The Second XCOM Viper
by The Imperator 2 you
Summary: With the Vipers now openly rebelling against Advent, XCOM's fight against Advent seems to have gained momentum. However, as new shadows rise to break the will of the resistance, the Commander himself now finds it difficult to maintain his high confidence and will. With a growing sense of self doubt, can the Commander fight not only Advent, but also to keep his humanity?
1. Prologue

= Prologue: 'Amalie's Story' =

(Aboard the Avenger, Interrogation Room, Amalie's PoV)

" **So… 'Central' was it?"** She hissed politely, sitting in the cold Cargo Bay room in the lowest level of the ship.

She was fully prepared for the fact that she was going to be interrogated, and it was no surprise that, despite having just forged an alliance between her Vipers, and the Human Resistance just minutes ago, he was still very suspicious of her motives. He was so distrustful of her that he had four members of a group called 'Gamma Raptors' with weapons trained on her, and dozens of cameras watching her every moment.

She didn't mind though, as she _knew_ 'he' was watching her as well through those cameras.

"Yes, now, tell me what you know about Advent." He said bluntly, glaring at her from across the table.

She chuckled at that, amused at how serious he was being with this 'interrogation'. **"If I were to do that… we'd be here for days, talking non-stop."** She hissed. **"I believe the better question though… 'Central'… is 'how do I know your Commander so well'? And even more importantly, 'how long have I been helping you behind the scenes'?"**

"Your saying you've been helping us the entire time?" He asked.

" **There is human phrase… that says… 'You took words right out of my throat' correct?"**

"It's mouth…" He corrected her.

" **Whatever… but yes, I have been helping you for very long time…"** She said with a smile. **"From the moment I first came to this world… many, many years ago…"**

She closed her eyes and smiled fondly, remembering those memories, those seven weeks she spent in her friend's hometown, pretending to be a little human girl among the humans she landed near.

" **I had been genetically altered, so that my physical appearance resembled a young ten-year-old girl. Of course, by your earth years… I was really seven, though young by your standards I was considered a… 'teenager'. Yes, teenager sounds right. Any case, I had been tasked to learn all I could, and sent in a small one-man ship, with hundreds of my other sisters on the same task. I just so happened to have crash landed during a time you humans called, 'Fourth of July'. When I landed, I quickly hid my ship, and was beginning to figure out how best to hide among the humans… when I was spotted by 'him'."**

She opened her eyes and smirked, recalling her first encounter with her friend.

" **He was such a naïve young boy, easily fooled… his parents weren't home, out celebrating, and he believed my story when I said I was… 'not of this place'. He figured I meant 'out of town' and I just agreed. Of course, he was also very innocent and naïve, because he did not realize at the time… that I was naked. He just assumed that my body scales, which weren't completely hidden by genetic modification, were just clothes."**

" **Still, I managed to gain his trust… and stole some clothes from a neighbor's home, and pretended to be a human girl who moved into neighborhood. I was given a memory altering device, and I used it to confuse his parents, making them believe my every word."**

"You manipulated him?" Central asked quietly, but she heard the trace sound of distrust from him.

" **Not entirely…"** She hissed apologetically. **"You see, it was designed for 'fully developed' minds… my friend's mind was… not fully developed yet. I believe the age is… twenty-five, before a human brain is fully developed. He was only ten at the time, so my device did not work on him. But he was very trusting, and he accepted me as I was. Funny, even at such an age, he had an advantage over me…"**

She remembered those days, being very careful to not tell the secrets of the Elders, what their plans were, what she was 'really' doing on Earth, and everything else to keep her mission a secret.

" **It went on like that for several days, with him and I exploring his home. Each day I asked him to show me round. Each day we explored, and each day I learned more and more about how to be 'human'. At one point, we were watching 'movie'… Power Rangers I believe it was called… and as I watched it… I forgot I was alien. I forgot I was 'Viper'… I felt… 'human' for that brief moment in time."**

" **Of course, I was young Viper as well… maturing in my mind… and as I spent time with him during what he called 'summer'… I began to see him as more than just 'boy'. He was a dear friend of mine… he was very special to me… the town I hid in, the places I went to, all of it were special to me. So, after three weeks, I stopped pretending to be human and chose to live as 'human' for as long as I could."**

She sighed sadly, remembering those next four weeks. Each day they played games, watched television, sometimes eating pizza and fries or whatever food his mother cooked. She acted like a 'foreign exchange' student, speaking in strange language to them. They even created their own 'language' that only they could read. It was a strange way of speaking between them when they wrote silent messages to each other late at night. Their code was also incomprehensible to anyone else but them.

One of them would write something like 'I ND A SA DWNRS', and the other would reply 'ATR TE CMIAL NDS'.

Essentially they were saying 'I need a soda downstairs', and 'After the commercials'. Their messages could never hope to be decoded by anyone who was trying to understand their 'secret spy talk' as they liked to call it. It was random, it was odd, and it was one of their favorite games to play when he happened to be grounded, and she was free to be whatever she wanted thanks to her mind-altering device still working.

She glanced up at Central and saw his confused expression. **"To you it seems weird… why would 'I' want to be human. But truth is… in those seven weeks I spent, pretending to be human… I was 'happy'."** She hissed warmly. **"I felt sun on my face, wind in my 'fake hair', felt burning sensation as my skin felt the heat of your world. By time I came to your planet in disguise, my species was subservient to Elders, 'uplifted' as they called it. My previous Hierarch Mother and Father… my 'parents' as you would call them, believed in their will."**

" **While I was with them, I was not 'me', I was merely another 'Viper', another daughter or son, another servant of the Elders, our 'god' as we were told they were. All actions we did were in their service, I was in complete belief in their will… until I came here. When I was free, for those seven weeks… I felt 'alive', more alive and free than in my lifetime of serving the Elders. When I saw your world, I felt… 'home'."**

"Alright… so what happened when you had to return?"

She sighed as she remembered that day, all too well. She received the signal to return, and knew she had to return, lest the Elders 'pull' her out by force. But she also knew that she couldn't just abandon her new friend, and let whatever the Elders had planned for Earth go awry.

So, during her few weeks while she was still pretending to be human, she had begun 'leaking' images of the other Vipers, of the other crafts to the media. Tabloids as they were called, as well as to various governments by way of the 'internet' as humans called it. It was a brilliant plan she came up with, by using Tabloids humans thought the images and stories were hoaxes and fake, but the governments took silent actions behind the scenes. Her sisters were captured or killed off, vehicles destroyed or taken away.

Everything was going according to her plan, until she realized that if nobody returned when the signal was sent out, the Elders might send 'another' group to learn and hide among humans. So with a heavy heart, she resigned to returning to the Elders, but not before she left a few items behind, and made her promise to her friend.

" **When I was forced to return, most of my sisters were gone. Humans did not believe in 'aliens', some did, many discredited, but only I was alive from those sent to learn. I had left a special capsule, designed to contain and keep an item inside of it, locked away… until the required genetic codes were inserted. I convinced my friend to lock away one of his toys inside of it, and he gave me the other as a 'goodbye' present."**

" **However, before I left I took his DNA and implanted it into the Plasma Card, and gave it to him, telling him to 'never' let another touch or see it. I did the same, and we made a promise that day, that when I returned from my 'trip back home', I would open it with him and we would reunite our two favorite toys together, in the front yard of his home."**

" **Naturally though… I was the only one who returned to the Elders, the others 'mysteriously' died in fatal crashes and… being exposed to humans… and the intel I provided them was instrumental to their plans. However, the information I gave them was 'misinformed' and 'greatly exaggerated'. By the time we returned in force, they had an incorrect version of what humans looked like. And while at distance they were decent disguise, the 'thin men' used to hide themselves were obviously alien close up."**

"So you fooled the Elders, and lied to them about how to impersonate their soldiers so they can infiltrate us?" Central asked skeptically.

" **Of course, was not easy though, I had to 'think' very hard about how to get around their genetic tamperings with my species' bodies. Still, as I was the only survivor, I convinced them of a template that would fool them, but their knowledge was very flawed."**

" **Though, it would be many, many years before I ever saw 'Earth' again… and the planet I found myself… missing dearly. All I had left of that planet…"** She sighed sadly, remembering her lonely days, staring into the void of space, wishing she were back on Earth. **"Was the stuffed toy my 'friend' gave to me as a gift… all I had was 'Sharkette' to remind me of what I had."**

She remembered those years, to many years from when she finally returned from her 'mission', to when the invasion began openly. Every day she spent hiding that one, single piece of her newfound home, her love for the new planet that she had found. With it were the ties to her first true 'friend', who treated her like a real friend, not in any way trying to manipulate her or use her for some reason.

Over the many years that stuffed shark was stashed, hidden, shoved and thrown in so many places that eventually it broke and tore to pieces. She used pieces of her human clothing that she kept and 'stitched' the shark together many times, learning on the fly while keeping it secret. There were dozens of times where she almost was discovered, but each time she 'silenced' anyone who discovered her with the toy.

To her, that toy was more important than anything in the universe, and with each day she spent treasuring it and breaking free of the Elders' influence, she found herself hating her 'saviors' more and more. Eventually, her pure hatred at them grew to the point that her only thought… was freeing herself of them in some way.

"Alright, so you lied to the alien leaders, and now you want to help us…" Said Central, not caring for her words but listening to them anyway. "So when the war began, what happened then?"

She sighed as she remembered the war, stasis pods raining down from above, her 'daughters' at the time infiltrating Earth Cities and scouting for target zones. All through it, her ship that she commanded, having been named 'Hierarch Mother', watched and waited for their signal to begin a sweep.

" **When the war began, my only thought was… my friend, and if he were alive."** She hissed sadly. **"I used my ship's scanners to scout the town where I landed and stayed, and made sure all assaults avoided that location. I was unsuccessful at one time, and feared he was dead… but the signal of my container was still transmitting, telling me that it was still safe. Finally, into the fourth month of the invasion, I could take no more… and secretly sent a transmission using your Earth Network, one that was undetectable by us but humans could see glaringly…"**

" **It was a code, one that we had always used in the past… if he were still alive, he would see it."** She whispered sadly, remembering those forty-eight hours. **"The two days I waited for that response… were the most painful of my life ever. Even more painful than watching as my mother, the previous Hierarch Mother… died after a failed genetic alteration to her body. It was even more painful than learning that my father died, 'donating' his genes and essence to aid the Elder's goals. When those happened, I only grew more angered toward the Elders… only the hope that my friend, my human friend still lived… gave me hope."**

" **Then… after two whole Earth days… I finally received a return message, and I knew he was alive. I learned that he oversaw 'XCOM', a military fighting the Aliens, but their task was hard. Despite the powerful advances in weapons and victories they had, they were losing ground across the world. I did all I could to aid him, leaking a signal to our underground base on the planet, and even tuning the signal of our Overseer vessel so XCOM could find it."**

" **But all my efforts were in vain… my attempts to aid him and you, failures. Eventually Earth surrendered, our ships landed, and I was tasked with eliminating resistances. I learned that XCOM's headquarters was overrun, their forces scattered and branded as 'traitors' by their home nations. Yet my calls, my pleas… my messages I sent for my friend… were never answered."**

" **For the first time… I had given up on my life, as I thought the last thing that gave me hope died… so I began to carry out my orders, deciding that the only thing I could do was obey the Elders, and believe that they did indeed 'care' about us all."**

She unconsciously tapped the table, contemplating that period of time when the Elders began taking control of humanity, remembering how the world she had once infiltrated changed. The joys that she found were slowly being destroyed. Pleasures that had once given her life, lost to the world.

Eventually, the resistance against the Elders slowly dissolved into pockets of resistance across several continents. The divide between those who believed the Elders' lies, and those who did not believe them steadily changed.

And she knew which side she was on, having given up in ever truly being cared about by 'anyone'.

"Alright, so you pretty much gave up, how did you go from being their servant, to being a mole at the highest level of Advent?" Central asked.

She chuckled at that, knowing the story would catch his interest.

" **It didn't happen until seven years after Earth had surrendered, and the Advent Coalition was founded."** She said. **"At that time, I and many others had 'psionic chip' implanted into us, mostly those who were to give orders to the Advent Troops, and then the Officers themselves. When I first felt the minds of the Ethereal, or 'Elders' as they are called, I only felt their orders, what they wanted of me. And I obeyed, knowing that my fate had been sealed now that they had direct access to my thoughts, my will, my very mind."**

" **At first though, I did not pay attention to the thoughts entering my mind, manipulating me… controlling me. All I knew was, with each battle I faced, every resistance I ended… I felt myself becoming more insightful. Strategies I began to anticipate that once eluded me, became crystal clear as the sun rises. As the years passed, I could predict the outcome of battles before they even began."**

" **All of this I soon learned, was because a being 'was' controlling me, guiding my actions, giving me insights with each battle I faced. I even had one battle in which I avoided a single casualty on either side, by simply threatening a historic sight of great importance to the humans, and allowing it to stand if they simply left the area."**

She smiled at that thought, as she felt her actions being controlled by her friend, her mysterious 'puppeteer' as it were.

" **Then… one day, I sought out the one controlling me, my only wish to thank them for watching over me. For every battle gave me courage and belief that someone cared about me, or at least cared in me succeeding in my tasks. But the answer I received from them, was not what I thought…"** She hissed with a chuckle. **"I learned that… they were speaking to me through my Psionic Chip. Yet, they were not the Elders, no they were linked to them but not 'of' them. This confused me, because only the Elders were higher than me, but there was another who was higher than 'I' but below 'them'."**

" **A human… captured and experimented on… with a psionic chip and put into stasis, linked not only to me but also to those below who are linked to me by 'their' psionic chips. Yet… as I spoke to them through my thoughts… I learned more and more about them, something with how… 'familiar' their thoughts were… how they were 'familiar' wit me… struck me as odd."**

She looked up at Central and smiled at him.

" **It was my friend… by all the strange possibilities that could have happened… the Elders had captured my 'friend', implanted him with a psionic chip, and experimented on him. I learned from his 'sub consciousness' that he was imprisoned..."** She declared. **"While his conscious mind slept, being subjected to endless war games and tactical scenarios, growing his mind… his subconscious mind was struggling to fight back… and it found a way through me. He used years and years of controlling me to determine if I could help him… and when he asked me to free him… I took the chance immediately."**

There was a moment of silence before Central nodded and thought for a moment, before moving onto his next question.

"So you chose to help us out, how did you manage that, I doubt Advent was going to just let you stroll through and release the Commander?"

She chuckled heartily at that.

" **Oh no, they weren't going to help me at all. But I did not care, I would find a way… the first way though, was finding out how to disable the psionic chip implanted into me."** She said. **"It was not easy… it was very painful actually… but after a few tries, I found a method that allowed me to disable the chip without Advent realizing it was done on purpose! I just simply had to electrocute myself… with several hundred or so volts of electricity in order to temporarily disable my chip."**

" **Once I managed to find the method, I used the few hours I had while I was free of the Elders' influence and insight into my mind, to communicate with my few daughters that did not have chips implanted into them. From there, they investigated, infiltrated, and searched for my friend's location… once that had been done… and I 'confirmed it myself… I 'leaked' the information to the resistance."**

" **I had to be careful about when I leaked it though, for if I mistimed it, the resistance would not rescue my friend, and all of our effort would have been in vain. So, I used the knowledge he gave me, and planned the operation perfectly… down to the smallest detail."** She said with a grin. **"I arranged the patrols so that there wouldn't be many surrounding the clinic where he was kept in stasis. I had the leak planned so that the timing would put it close to 'Unification Day', when the crowds of city centers would be flooded, and Advent forces were at their busiest… I leaked floor plans, codes, patrol routes and gate locations, everything XCOM and the Resistance needed to free my friend!"**

" **The rest… you know how it went. Unification Day happened, you created a diversion with an explosion that drew the attention of many patrols, and sprung him free."** She said with a smile. **"After his chip was removed… I felt his presence in my mind vanish… and all his knowledge with him. I still retained his knowledge, pieces though were missing from it, but I still retained enough to be of value to Advent. Enough to gain great military power over a vast portion of Advent's military."**

"So then you began contacting him… and working with him to undermine Advent from within?" Central asked.

" **Precisely, through various communications we planned our 'rebellions'… and worked together to destroy Advent from within. I forewarned him about various 'events' that would undermine XCOM and the Resistance, and I 'occasionally' leaked targets of interest to the resistance for XCOM to target. I even occasionally sent him messages about tasks I need him to do in order for me to 'cover my tracks' and keep Advent in the dark as much as possible."**

She yawned slightly and shifted her tail from side to side, sitting still for hours while tired was not her favorite activity, especially after surgery.

"I see, very well that's all the info I can stand for now… and no doubt your tired like me." Central said, scratching his eyes. "Tomorrow I'll interrogate you about what you 'really' know about Advent. I want to know about any military installations, secret projects, how far along the Avatar Project was before it was 'temporarily shut down' as you put it…"

" **I will answer all I can, though I will be honest, there were 'some' secrets even 'I' could not gather."** She said warmly. **"Now then… may I have permission to speak to my friend?"**

"I believe the Commander is in his room, no unauthorized personnel are allowed in there though." He declared instantly.

" **Central, I just spent the last twenty years fighting for Earth, even now I have openly rebelled with all that remains of my daughters and species' hope to survive… the 'least' you can do… as you humans say… is let me spend some time with my 'friend'."** She hissed back.

With that, she got up, and began to make her way upstairs towards her friend's room, wanting to spend her first night of freedom with her beloved human.

She had three duties as the Hierarch Mother of her species… the first was to be a representation of all that her species should strive to be. The second was to guide her species growth and insure the continuation of her kind. And the third, was to breed the next 'Hierarch Mother' of her species, using the genes of the best male sample she could find.

" **I doubt 'my' Hierarch Mother ever imagined me planning to use an 'alien male's' genes to breed the next generation of my bloodline…"** She hissed quietly to herself, her long term plans already well underway. **"All I need do now… is help eliminate the Elders… and free my species at last. Then…"**

She gently began caressing her stomach region, still covered by her outfit, where her offspring's eggs would rest only a short while until she gave birth.

If all went according to plan… she would have the 'family' she once stayed with while 'pretending' to be a human child.

" **Together my friend… we will free our future… and together… we will build 'our' future…"** She hissed warmly.


	2. Chapter 1

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **Let me tell you something I've learned about you humans… it doesn't matter what you do to them, they somehow find a way to come back from any disaster!"** She said with a smile.

" **Take my friend for example… he told me he had on his report card, a 'D' one time… not sure what that means, but he was 'grounded' for a whole summer because of that. Next year he said, when first quarter ended… not 'one' D on it… Then again… he didn't have any 'A's either he told me."**

" **Just goes to show you, when a human is pushed hard… that human will shove back even harder."** She said with a shrug of her shoulders. **"Also helps to have a friend in high places as well…"**

=Chapter 1, Sit Rep=

(Hawkeye's PoV)

 _[At 1100 hours yesterday, transmissions from the South African resistance cell ceased transmitting to us. As all of you are aware of now, this was the time when Land Sharks squad, performing 'Operation: Morning Princess', went to a 'classified' location to retrieve an intel cache given to us by the Council. This intel cache was the disguised name of Amalie, the Hierarch Mother of the Viper species.]_ The Commander told all the XCOM squads, Gamma Raptors, Land Sharks, and Water Dragons, who were being debriefed pending new intelligence arriving.

 _[At that time, we merely assumed they were suffering communications malfunction, as their equipment often broke down once a month while they performed maintenance. However, at 1100 hours, a single seventeen second transmission managed to reach us. We barely managed to hear the words, but from what we made out, South Africa was under assault, and it was too late for us to reinforce or lend assistance. At approximately 1200 hours, another encoded message carrying data managed to reach us, within it were all the details of what happened between 1200 hours today, and 1100 hours yesterday.]_

Hawkeye grimaced at that, the way it sounded could not be good news. Next to him Mercy was gripping his hand, both out of fear and for assurance that he was there with her. Next to him as well were the other Sharks, Puppy, T-Rex, Falcon, Eagleeye, and Sharptooth. All of them looked grim, but Puppy looked more nervous than anyone else.

 _[At 1200 hours, Advent forces circled and surrounded the entire South African resistance haven, using MEC units and heavily armed Sectopods. They were hit within six minutes precisely of being completely encircled, and all further transmissions were jammed, preventing them from alerting any other resistance cell outside of South Africa. Those within South Africa heard about Haven's Home's peril attempted to reinforce, but found themselves attempting to break through an unbreakable line of MEC units. Any attempts to relieve those trapped were outnumbered and swiftly eliminated, with no survivors escaping as they were cut down by additional reinforcing MEC units that arrived 'after' the initial wave.]_

 _[Once reinforcements were cut off and eliminated, the MEC units surrounding the South African resistance, divided into two separate circles. A smaller circle comprising one fourth of the total military, began moving in and slowly eliminating any resistance pockets, maintaining their circle and tightening to prevent any from escaping. The outer circle containing the remaining three fifth of Advent's military for the operation, completely encircled the inner circle using a new type of Sectopod armed only with heavy anti air armaments to prevent any escape or reinforcement by air.]_

He heard Puppy sniffle slightly at that, and deep down he was feeling afraid as well. The intelligence was not leaving any room for positive thoughts about the South African Resistance Cell's fate.

 _[At 0100 hours, the inner circle of Advent's MEC units began pushing slowly toward the center of their encirclement, eliminating resistance forces as they attempted to hold back Advent's advance. However, their attempts to push back were met with failure, as no matter how many within the inner circle were eliminated, those in the outer circle reinforced to maintain the exact number surrounding and advancing. Over the next nine hours, the resistance was pushed further and further inward, until only a scant few pockets remained.]_

 _[At 0700 hours, the resistance attempted to break out of the circle, and managed to punch a hole in the inner circle, and made a break for a small hole in the outer circle's line. However, the instant they broke through, the outer circle tightened its line, and the inner circle closed the gap to prevent any retreat for those who broke through. Trapped between both circles, all resistance forces were wiped out.]_

"Damn bastards…"T-Rex muttered silently. "Given a small hope… and then squashed like bugs… bad way to go man…"

"Not even given a fair fight…" Sharptooth grunted furiously. "Nobody deserves that fate…"

He nodded in agreement, it was as if Advent 'allowed' them to break through, only to smash those who attempted to run all at once, so as to make sure nobody survived to tell the tale.

 _[At 1000 hours, a small band of South African resistance forces made a last stand in the town of Haven's Home, but within half an hour Advent's MEC units had pushed to the town and had cut down all those who held their ground. Then all at once, all MEC units ceased action. The remaining survivors retreated to Haven's Home, where roughly ten individuals, human, Viper and Gene-Viper attempted a final stand… but were all wiped out. Civilians, soldiers… nobody was spared… all were killed to the last… if there 'are' any survivors, you can bet that Advent has… 'processed' them, or what's left of them.]_

 _[As of this moment… there is no longer, nor will there ever be, a 'South African Resistance Cell. Advent now has complete control over South Africa… Because of this, XCOM can no longer operate within the southern half of the African continent. Advent's speaker has already given an adoring speech regarding the destruction of a 'terrorist group' operating there…]_

All around the debriefing room XCOM operatives were muttering.

"We lost South Africa… impossible…"

"No way…"

"Can't believe…"

"Commander, how could that happen?" Puppy asked suddenly, sounding very nervous.

The Commander's Gremlin floated over and looked at a screen, which was giving a visual representation of what he just told them. _[From what we could gather, the operation was swift and efficient, carried out with a skill that only a military genius could pull off. The efficiency and sheer coordinated effort to prevent any signal from breaking out for nearly twelve hours, while also ensuring no survivors escaped, means that this was done in such a way so that there could be no retaliation or relief given. Furthermore, based on the intel we've gathered from the South African resistance, before they were wiped out, we learned that the entire force was mechanical, meaning all the units were MEC units or Sectopods.]_

"But I thought a Virus had shut down all of Advent's MEC units and Sectopods, that's why we haven't encountered any of them on any missions!" Leviathon from Water Dragons squad said.

 _[Indeed, which means Advent must have found a work around, obviously not one hundred percent efficient because otherwise, we'd be receiving reports about more MEC units around, instead of just the force sent to wipe out South Africa.]_ He answered back. _[But, while we may have lost South Africa XCOM, we still have our directive and our goal… we must do all we can to survive… and we must continue to fight Advent.]_

He looked at them all and his Gremlin's optics glared at all of them. _We are XCOM… we are Reliable… we are Dependable… if Advent wants to hit us hard, then we'll hit back even 'harder'! We will not let this break our resolve to resist Advent's efforts to wipe out Humanity! If Advent want's a battle, then we'll give them more than a battle, they'll get a war! Vigilo Confido!]_

At that everyone stood up and said in unison… "VIGILO CONFIDO!"

 _[Dismissed!]_

With that they all turned and left the debriefing room, returning to their rooms for the night.

"Jeez… South Africa gone…" T-Rex muttered as they all trudged along. "I had a cousin fighting in South Africa man… can't believe he's gone…"

"Maybe he got out before Advent hit?" Puppy said to him hopefully, but a second later she muttered. "What am I saying…"

"Nice try Puppy, but you're not helping kid." Sharptooth said frustratingly. "Next time I go into the field, I'm slicing the head off one of those bastards… stick it on a pole and see how 'Advent' likes how 'we' deal with them."

"Guys, I think we all could use a drink…" Eagleye said quietly.

"Even me?" Puppy asked hopefully.

"Even though it's not in the rules, underanged agents are prohibited from consuming alcohol!" Agent 007 yelled from down below as they were taking the staircase.

"How does she hear me all the way up here?" Puppy muttered furiously.

"Sorry Puppy, but rules are rules, and I'm not going against a decorated veteran." Eagleeye said.

Hawkeye chuckled as everyone began either making their way further downstairs toward the bar, or to their rooms for the night. He, Mercy and Puppy headed toward their room, where Puppy groaned miserably and plopped onto her bunk bed, and instantly snoozing into her pillow.

Meanwhile, he and Mercy both climbed into their bunk and simply laid there. Mercy was holding him close to her, her hood closed like the Land Shark's pet snake, Vivi did when she was resting.

" **Hawkeye…"** She whispered quietly to him.

"Yes?" He asked.

" **I am afraid…"** She whispered sadly. **"I have never seen… you and your fellow soldiers so… dismayed."**

"Some of us are afraid Mercy…" He answered honestly. "Sure we lose contact with a cell, maybe they take casualties… but we never actually lost an entire country before… Hearing South Africa was gone, wiped out… it makes us feel afraid. If we can't stop Advent, what can we do?"

They lay in silence for a few moments before Mercy hugged him tighter.

" **Hawkeye… if worst happens… can you make promise to me?"** She hissed softly.

"What promise is that?"

" **If worst happens… run with me…"** She hissed hopefully. **"If we can't win… at least live rest of life with me? Even if it short life?"**

Her words made him think for a moment.

The thought of running away with Mercy, fleeing to some hidden place in the world, living out the rest of their life in solitude and away from Advent, even if it was a life on the run…

"I'll think about it Mercy… I just can't stop fighting Advent…" He said.

Mercy hissed softly before cuddling closer to him. **"I know… I'm just… afraid of losing you…"**

"So am I Mercy… so am I." He answered.

(Commander's PoV)

"That was quite a speech you gave Commander." Central said on the bridge.

 _[If only I meant every word of it…]_ He muttered bitterly. _[The fact is Central… that plan Advent pulled off was so well coordinated, that it was only one of three possible scenarios that could have wiped out the South African resistance cell entirely.]_

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

 _[There are only three scenarios my Gremlin and I came up with, which ended with South Africa's elimination.] He said, having spent the past six hours trying to find out how Advent could have pulled it off._

 _[Scenario 1, Advent uses a UFO Bombardment, decimating the entire landscape and killing all within the area of effect. This is too extreme though, and it would cause outrage for Advent's citizens… it would be a turning point, forcing the truth out and causing humanity to realize how evil Advent truly is, and showing how far the aliens will go to control us.]_

 _[Scenario 2, Advent coordinates an attack using various command forces and military personnel. To pull this off, Advent would have to coordinate its forces in a way that only several generals thinking in sync could manage, to ensure all forces received and carried their orders out precisely. Normal Advent Officers and Troopers can't do that on their own, even with great direction, they would take too much time to ensure all orders were carried out properly and efficiently. People would notice, questions would be asked, and overall it would take too much time to pull off. This scenario is possible, but very unlikely to succeed.]_

 _[Scenario 3, without giving any warning, and using a clear command structure, as well as only robotic units to ensure total efficiency of all orders, Advent uses MEC units and an AI to command its forces, while also simultaneously jamming any signals to ensure secrecy of the operation. This, is the only option that keeps all knowledge quiet, ensures nobody realizes what is happening, and eliminate any threats left over.]_

 _[The third scenario was the most optimal that I and my Gremlin came up with to eliminate any single Resistance Cell in its entirety. Nothing else would have achieved the goal of wiping out a Resistance Cell.]_ He completed. _[It was efficient, it was effective, it was done 'flawlessly'. Which leaves only one question, how could we have figured all of this out? If it was done as precisely as the intel suggests, then whoever wiped out South Africa must have messed up somewhere. But they couldn't have, unless it was done on purpose…]_

"Your saying they let the South African Resistance Cell inform us of what happened to them on purpose?" He asked quietly.

 _[If they were this effective and efficient, they could have done it so that we never would have found out what was happening. We would have figured out eventually, simply by going in and looking around, but then they could have ambushed us, and wiped out a squad of our best forces when we were unaware and they had the element of surprise. But there was one thing in the message that I didn't tell our agents…]_

 _[Prior to sending the message, the transmitter recorded having to try and break through the jamming signal, and was still several seconds away from breaking through. When, all of a sudden… the source of the jamming signal ended abruptly, allowing the transmission to send ahead of its estimated time.]_

He turned to look at Central, and saw in his eyes that he had put two and two together. _[Whoever wiped out South Africa, 'knew' about the transmission taking place, and let it reach us on purpose. They even waited for it to finish sending because mere seconds after the transmission was sent, all contact with the transmitter from the signal was lost. They wanted us to know just how efficient they had been… it was all part of their strategy.]_

"That doesn't make any sense though, why tip us off to how good they are? Why let us learn as much as we can, why not try keeping us in the dark?" Central asked quietly.

 _ **[Commander to Engineering, Commander to Engineering!]**_ The Avenger's AI declared.

"Shen probably has something to tell you, I'll leave you to it Commander." He said, before heading to a console to work.

He moved to a console and connected to Engineering, and soon was speaking to Shen. _[What is it Shen?]_

"Commander, I have something I need to report to you about sir." She said to him.

 _[Did you make progress reprogramming that Seeker you recovered a while back?]_ He asked, hoping to make use of that thing as soon as possible.

Its cloaking technology may be old, but it's still a lot better than anything they've got. It also would be the perfect stealth unit to go alongside his agents in the field, in particular it could make infiltrating facilities easier.

"That's not what I wanted to report to you about…" She said, sounding annoyed.

 _[Does it have anything to do with SHIV's upgrades you were working on?]_ He asked, a little confused now.

A few days ago, he asked Shen to work on some upgrades for SHIV, in particular an upgrade to its primary cannon, enabling it to act as a long-range Sniper on par with Agent 007's rifle.

"That's also, not what I wanted to report to you about…" She said, now even more annoyed.

He thought for a moment before plugging into the camera view of his room, the only camera he kept active because he didn't trust Amalie.

 _[Amalie wants to redecorate my room?]_ He asked quietly.

"Yes Commander, she asked me to install a new 'one way mirror' into the bathroom's shower in your room… allowing you to see into the shower." She said, sounding 'extremely' annoyed.

 _[I'll deal with her…]_ He grunted, before leaving the main bridge and heading to his room. _[I am going to kill that Viper…]_

As much as he liked having Amalie on board now, it had not even been a day and already she was trying to have her way of the place.

Moments later he entered his room and saw Amalie was measuring a square along one of the walls, right next to the bathroom door.

" **Ah, friend… come, I need your opinion on how big the window should be!"** She hissed happily.

 _[WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO INSTALL A ONE-WAY MIRROR IN MY ROOM?]_ He yelled angrily, only noticing that she was wearing the same see-through outfit she teased him with when he was her 'captive'. _[And why are you wearing 'that'?]_

" **Hmmm, oh this?"** She asked wearing a smirk, and seductively gesturing at her 'exposed' body. **"I asked one of my daughters to pack it before I left Advent, I figured you liked it."**

 _[I am trying to plan a counter offensive against what Advent just did, while also keeping morale high for my crew and operatives… and you're here… 'strip teasing'?]_ He asked incredulously.

" **I figured you wanted to be able to see me at all times, even in my most 'private' times!"** She said warmly. **"I thought all males fancy a female who easily reveal themselves to their male lover… my research told me that about human males!"**

 _[Reading Japanese Manga from early 2000's is not 'research'.]_ He grunted before turning away to try and focus. _[I don't know what 'ecchi manga' you read when you were away from Earth… but you clearly have a poor idea on… ugh… never mind, I don't have time to deal with this! South Africa has fallen completely under Advent's Control!]_

At that he knew Amalie had snapped out of her 'teasing girl' mind, and put on her serious face.

" **What of my daughters I sent to aid them, I specifically sent four hundred of my daughters, one hundred of them were Gene-Vipers, far more capable of battling than any normal human or Viper?"** She hissed worriedly. **"Did they… make it in time to aid them?"**

 _[No Survivors, all Vipers and humans, civilians and non-civilians killed… down to the last.]_ He muttered quietly.

" **Oh my…"** She hissed sadly. **"I'm… so sorry my friend… how could they have found them so fast… I didn't reveal the exact location of any of the resistance Havens."**

 _[Advent probably tracked one of the Vipers you sent to aid the resistance Haven, from there they began their operation to eliminate South Africa.] He said with a sigh._

" **My daughters… no…"** She hissed with great sorrow in her voice. **"I told them, that we had to fight together… for both our species to survive… that they might have to give their lives to ensure we can be free and live as we used to. That it was the only way you humans would ever accept us on this planet with them when the Elders were gone."**

He heard her silently sobbing behind him, and he knew she was mourning the loss of her daughters.

 _[Morale is low among my operatives… we need something to help us gain back our confidence… everything we did last night is all but gone.]_ He muttered as she moved near him.

He inwardly sighed and shook himself out of his own fear. He couldn't be distracted now, not when he was needed most of all.

 _[Tomorrow morning I'm going to ask Central to interrogate you about this new 'Advent General' that supposedly wiped out South Africa, based on the intel we gained.]_

" **Of course my 'friend'…"** She whispered, pulling his Gremlin close to her body without his realizing it. **"We won't let them break us… this is only a minor setback for 'us'…"**

 _[And for the love of… put on something 'decent'!]_ He yelled, because aside from the paper-thin cloth she played off as a dress, which exposed her entire body underneath it, she was 'naked'.


	3. Chapter 2

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **I have to admit… my favorite game you humans have invented would have to be the game of 'Chess'."** She said, twirling her plasma pistol around by its trigger with one finger. **"So many intertwining rules, so many possibilities and complex situations that can take place. Every move made can be part of a larger strategy, that until seventeen moves in, you don't see play out, so it was with me and my friend, and the 'Elders'."**

" **Yes, we all played the game, the grand game of chess, my friend, myself, and the Elders."** She hissed with a grin. **"I was such a fool at the game, as was my friend… until they made their first mistake in the war, in the grand design of the game we are playing. They gave 'him' the knowledge, and the rules, about how to 'play' the game… as well as countless years of experience battling their forces."**

" **Funny though… in the game he and I are playing… he oversees the pieces on 'our' side, the Elders in charge of 'their' pieces… and I am but a pawn on the field."** She whispered quietly, before holding her pistol still and grinning at you now. **"But then again… a 'pawn' can become so much more… like a 'queen'… so I guess that means… I have more 'power' than any other piece?"**

= Chapter 2, The Raptors Fall =

(Commander's PoV)

 _[Tell me you have something good for me Central.]_ He said, mentally exhausted after reviewing all the data Shen and Tygan gave him regarding various updates to what he asked of them.

Tygan reported successfully completing research into new cloaking technology based on the old Ghost Grenades they recovered from XCOM HQ. At his order, Shen had already developed a few prototypes Ghost Mk II grenades, that were stronger and lasted longer than the old models they recovered. As for Shen, she was still working on the Seeker they recovered, but managed to crack into its frame and found a strange device that caught her attention.

As of now the 'device' in question was something she hadn't seen before, and nor had Tygan, and thus he and his research team were now investigating it and its purpose, while Shen figured out a way to get the Seeker to work now that it was missing a piece.

"As a matter of fact, I do sir, and I think you'll be pleased with what I've got." Central said, turning to the holo globe on the bridge. "After interrogating Amalie, I've picked out a location regarding the two 'weapons' we missed the chance to hit."

He turned to look at the globe and it slowly zoomed into a small weapon's factory just on the outskirts of a mega-metropolis. The factory wasn't anything special, it was developing chassis for MEC units and assembling them before they were put together.

"According to Amalie, the weapons went by the code names E.C. 1 and C.X. 2, and were classified to only the highest levels of Advent. Even the Council had difficulty getting us these building schematics. Their purpose though for being created, was never revealed to her or the Advent High Council. They were only told about these weapon's systems being produced at a heavily armed and protected factory."

 _[And… now they suddenly show up in this lightly defended, almost abandoned MEC factory?]_ He asked skeptically.

"She said, based on the intel she gathered while still pretending to be on Advent's side, the weapons were 'infected' by some unknown virus, and their development was put on hold." Central said with a chuckle. "However, they were nearing completion when they were infected, that was about the time when she leaked the intel to us, alongside the leak regarding her Viper worker 'Netra'. Two weeks after we hit Netra, the weapons systems were moved out of the factory and to some 'temporary' facility for storage until they could fix the Virus problem. She said she couldn't find out where they were sent, only some facility that was deactivated until they could restore their production and operations of their MEC units."

 _[Which is precisely why this lightly defended factory is only now recently becoming active, because they are starting to get around the virus…]_ He commented.

"The council said the factory went active four hours ago, and inside reports confirm that the factory is indeed running." Central continued. "But, they haven't seen anything actually 'leaving' the factory. The machines inside are running, and they hear noises going off but nothing actually ever leaves the factory."

 _[Which leads us to conclude, that they might be experimenting on these 'weapons systems' that Amalie spoke of and leaked to us.]_ He concluded. _[I figured we'd find information about this new 'Advent General' before they resumed working on their weapons. This doesn't make sense…]_

"Yea, I know what you mean…" Central said as Shen walked onto the bridge.

"You rang chiefs?" Shen asked quizzically. "That Seeker's body isn't going to fix itself if you keep calling me onto the bridge to check the lights."

 _[Shen, I need your expert opinion regarding the virus 'Big Sister' and I created to shut down Advent's MEC units and Sectopods.]_ He said, turning to look at his chief engineer. _[Based on what you've examined with the virus, since it infected my SHIV a while back, how could Advent have found a workaround to its effects, and been able to use a portion of their MEC units and Sectopods to wipe out the South African resistance cell? Not taking into account with how quickly they were able to implement it.]_

Shen crossed her arms and closed her eyes in thought, her brow furrowing as he watched her give his question serious thought.

"The only way they could have found a workaround, would be to use a very advanced AI system, capable of resisting and ignoring the effects of your virus." She said after a few minutes of thinking. "I'm talking serious, heavy duty AI programming, beyond even what the aliens have dished out in the past. Our Gremlins operate using some pretty advanced AI protocols, and I've even upgraded them based on what we've found in the Sectopod programming algorithms, and even 'they' can't resist your virus' effects."

She looked up at him with a serious look on her face, and he could tell that what she was saying was about as serious as he could ever get from his chief engineer.

"The only way your Gremlin is operating normally even now, because I can't remove the Virus from it while it's still linked to your human body via that psionic chip, is because of your human mind controlling it. The backup protocols that kicked in and saved your mind, downloading most of it onto the Gremlin, wiped out most of the Gremlin's personality core and internal data. Only the tactical information your mind kept stored within the Gremlin's database was saved, but otherwise all other information was deleted in order to make space for your mind to sit inside of it. Even the basic functions of your Gremlin's operating systems are barely able to fit inside, I've had to update your Gremlin's memory hardware seven times to ensure you don't' lose any of your memories Comman-."

There was silence across the bridge as Shen stopped talking, realizing that she had just talked about 'classified' information.

 _[Thank you, Shen, for updating me on my health…]_ He said politely, but in a slightly cold tone.

He had classified how his 'mental' health was so that nobody on the ship, outside of a few people, knew how dire his mental situation was. Only those on the bridge knew, and they were not to say a 'peep'.

His mental health was common knowledge to only bridge crew, thanks to Shen rushing to talk to him about it one time before he and the Sharks went to XCOM HQ. She explained about how the normal human brain stored up to two point five Petabytes of data, up to one million gigabytes. However, that was a single lifetime's amount of memory in data, whereas his mind had not only his life's experiences but also the vast number of 'wargame' scenarios Advent forced him to live out while unconscious. While his brain was still unconscious, the psionic chip linking his body's mind would keep his body and mind linked so that he didn't 'die'.

But there was one downside to this, his real human brain would not retain or gain back his conscious mind and memories, until he himself woke up from his coma.

Which is where the Gremlin came into the picture. Even though it was a lowly MK. 1 model Gremlin, it had been upgraded with memory storage so that he could retain his 'identity' and memories, without losing anything vital. But it had come at a personal cost, despite Shen's constant increasing of the memory space, there was only so much she could do to keep him 'intact'. For every second of activity his consciousness experienced, his Gremlin had to store at least seven Megabytes of data to ensure nothing was lost.

In truth, his Gremlin was running out of space to store his memories, and there was little he could do to stop it. All Shen could do was constantly increase his Gremlin's memory storage, and hope and wait for his body to 'finally' wake up.

It was either that, or accept the inevitable, and begin forgetting his memories of his past.

 _[In any case, it may be late but prep the Gamma Raptors for this mission. The blueprints indicate the factory isn't that big, and the forces they have shouldn't be too much for our Raptors squad to handle. This will be a quick mission, in and out. Infiltrate the factory, locate the two weapons systems, and blow them up before Advent finishes work on them. Then get out before they know what hit them.]_

"Understood sir." Central said before nodding and giving several hand gestures. "Attention, Gamma Raptors Squad, proceed to armory for weapon and armor refit…"

(Mercy's PoV)

 _[Attention, Gamma Raptors Squad, proceed to armory for weapon and armor refit… Repeat, Attention, Gamma Raptors Squad, proceed to armory for weapon and armor refit.]_

" **A mission this late?"** She hissed as her fellow Sharks were making their way to their bunk room for the night.

They had spent all day experimenting with the new weapon upgrades Shen had come up with for their equipment. Mercy's long range Sniper Rifle had a new dart poison to go along with thanks to her new promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. Her newest dart was geared mostly toward 'robotic' units, and the acid was designed to melt through armor and slowly damage the wires beneath.

Though that didn't mean the acid wouldn't melt flesh if used on an Advent Soldier.

Puppy yawned as they walked down the hallway. "Sounds like it'll be a quick mission if the Raptors are going in…" She muttered back.

"I give the Raptors fifteen minutes before they complete the job and get back home in time for breakfast!" Sharptooth yelled.

"I'll take that bet sista!" T-Rex called back.

"Hey Mercy, feel like watching the Raptors?" Hawkeye asked.

She thought about it and decided to join her 'mate to be' in watching her fellow XCOM soldiers with him. **"I would like that."** She said warmly.

"You guys have fun, call us when the Raptors finish up!" Sharptooth called out as they turned right while she and Hawkeye went left at an intersection, toward the mess hall.

As they were going they spotted the Raptors leaving the mess hall and passed them by in the hallway.

"Hey Sharks, tell that big mouthed Sharptooth of yours to save some breakfast for us when we get back, ya hear me luv?" Ripclaw, the Colonel Sniper of the Gamma Raptors called out in her British accent.

"How about you guys not take longer than seven minutes to finish your mission this time?" Hawkeye called back as they walked back.

"What do ya say to that kids?" Ripclaw asked nonchalantly.

"Ah, tell that snake lover if we take longer than ten to wrap it up, I'll join him and his squad in a round of 'strip poker'!" Lillith yelled, which got every member of the raptors to laugh.

Hearing humans talk among themselves confused her many days. For her species, they did not waste idle conversation with pointless information. Yet what humans did fascinated her every time she heard and watched them, partly because she was only getting used to 'human chit chat', and partly because what they said confused her greatly.

For example, she knew about 'Poker', a card game the Sharks sometimes played with their deck of cards while off duty, but she didn't know what this 'Strip Poker' was that Lillith just mentioned. Nor did she know why all the male members of the Gamma Raptors whistled loudly at the mention of that.

She and Hawkeye entered the mess hall where the last remnants of dinner were still waiting for those very late people to eat. Only a few partially filled bowls of the 'mystery meat' of the day remained, as well as the vegetables plates were left. Hawkeye grabbed them a pair of plates and only filled the two plates partially with food for them to eat while waiting for the Gamma Raptor's mission to be broadcast to the Avenger.

" **What do you think the mission is tonight Hawkeye?"** She asked him warmly.

"Probably something light, maybe just a raid on a factory or a quick information raid." He said.

" **I hope the Raptors can succeed in today's mission."**

"Are you kidding, the Gamma Raptors specialize in quick missions that require precision hits. Aside from you, me and Sharptooth, they have the best long range operatives in XCOM!" Hawkeye said proudly. "Advent's forces will be lucky to have a chance to shoot them before they get picked off!"

She nodded in acceptance, though she refrained from correcting him about the one time the Raptors were surrounded and forced to flee. That had been the time when her Hierarch Mother had revealed herself to XCOM, and was actively trying to stop them. Though, in their defense, the Commander had been actively trying to keep suspicion about her being a mole at a minimum.

They sat down at a table and quietly ate their late food. While she ate, she thought about her future, in particular the future of her species and what will become of them in the world.

Humans in the resistance only trust her kind because of the Commander's efforts, his careful, long term strategy to build trust between them. Her Hierarch Mother's public declaration and plea had reached their hearts, but she knew that, outside of XCOM, there was still great distrust between the Vipers and Humans in the resistance.

Yes, she was privileged to be an XCOM agent, to be the 'figure' for Vipers and Humans working together, but what about those who 'weren't' privileged like her?

Would the humans accept them even after the war had ended, even if they were victorious and Advent overthrown would the humans still be willing to accept them?

How long would it take before humans found themselves unable to stand Vipers on 'their' planet, and eventually hatred drove them to war once again?

Could their fragile alliance survive?

"Hey look, they've begun the mission." Hawkeye said suddenly.

She glanced up and was shocked to see that nearly half an hour had gone by. She had been so in thought about what would happen that she didn't even realized how much time had passed.

Though Hawkeye was right, the mission was just beginning, and she was watching Central debriefing the Gamma Raptors inside the Skyranger as they approached their destination.

[Alright listen up, thanks to information provided by 'Amalie' and the Council, we've managed to locate two experimental weapons systems Advent has been working on. They've been located sitting in an abandoned MEC factory that's only recently come back online. The guard is light and the factory is small, so this should be a clean and quick mission! Your job is to get in there, locate the weapons systems, and blow them up before Advent knows we're here! Good Luck Agents!]

As Central finished speaking the lights inside the Skyranger changed to yellow, indicating it was time to get ready. After the Gamma Raptors got up and prepped themselves, the lights changed to green and the door opened, cueing them to grab various ropes and slide down to the ground.

Ripclaw the Colonel on the Gamma Raptors was first to land, and was ready to fire the moment she hit, moments later the rest of her squad landed and the Commander went into his high position above them to give orders.

They had been dropped off on the outskirts of one of Advent's mega-metropolis cities, in particular one of the factory centers. Around them were closed buildings and vehicles left behind by those working night shifts.

[Commander, SHIV is currently under maintenance following the new upgrades Shen has prepared for it, so you will be unable to call it in for assistance this mission…]

 _[Understood Central, alright Raptors… let's get a peek at that factory!]_ The Commander said, and ordered one of the Technicians forward.

"On it dog." He said, moving forward. "Well well, lookie here!"

The Commander's vision closed onto a small group of advanced Advent Troopers on patrol with an Officer.

Upon spotting the group he began issuing orders for an ambush.

"Jawohl Sir!"

"Oui monsieur!"

"With haste!"

"Orders heard moving out!"

"If you say so!"

They each quickly took cover behind some of the cars and inside a guard station, and waited for the patrol to move closer, which the patrol did. Then each of the agents besides one Sniper went into overwatch, and soon was ordered to target the Officer.

"Right between the eyes!" The Sniper said.

He turned around the car, took aim, and fired on the Officer at maximum range, putting a plasma bolt right between its eyes.

" **Hgaaaaara!"** The Officer yelled loudly as he was felled, alerting the two Troopers instantly.

"Killed it, but we've been spotted!" The Sniper said.

The Commander watched as the Troopers pointed toward the agents in cover, and tried to take cover themselves, but the instant they moved, those agents in overwatch open fired.

" **Graaaaah…"**

" **Yahaaaaraa…"**

"I'm about to start keeping score~!" Ripclaw yelled enthusiastically.

"C'était trop facile!"

[Commander, I'm detecting no more hostile signals, area cleared.] Central said.

 _[Wait, three guards, that's it?]_ The Commander said instantly. _[You said the guard was light, but 'that' light?]_

[Yea, I hear you sir, but scanners aren't showing anything else in that factory.]

 _[Let's find out…]_

He ordered the Technician to toss a Battle Scanner into the factory through the open bay door.

"Tossing Battle Scanner!" The Technician said.

He primed the scanner and tossed it through the door, and moments later he changed vision and saw inside of the factory.

The factory was small indeed, only consisting of one massive room which was divided into sections. One section was a conveyer belt which had pieces of MEC parts lying on it. A second section was devoted to welding finer pieces together which would go onto the conveyer belt. And a third section was an automated running conveyer for microchips and motherboards.

Along the walls were several depowered MEC units, old models and covered in dust. But at the far back were two 'containers' each marked E.C. 1, and C.X. 2, they could see inside the containers barely because of exposed gun barrels, yet the tops of the containers were bound down by elastic bands.

They also noticed that he could see the foot of what looked like a depowered Sectopod, yet it wasn't the standard model Advent Sectopod they were familiar with.

 _[What the…]_ The Commander muttered.

[That looks like a Pre-Advent Sectopod, from the original invasion era.] Central said.

 **[I know they were experimenting with a new weapon's system, but using an old model Sectopod like that? That makes no sense… its 'AI' is outdated, slow and incapable of complex problem solving on the level of the current Sectopod Model that Advent uses.]** Amalie her Hierarch Mother suddenly hissed over their coms. **[It makes no strategic or logical sense, why test something in 'that' chassis?]**

[I don't know, but the sooner we blow up those containers, the better, we're just lucky the alarms haven't been sounded yet.]

Mercy watched as the Commander ordered the squad into position, ordering the Snipers to take up long range positions behind the cars to cover those moving inside, before having the Technicians and Rangers move into the factory. Once inside the Commander managed to get a better view of the inside of the factory, and it was as the Battle Scanner revealed, old model MEC units lining the walls covered in dust, and a single Pre-Advent Sectopod at the rear.

"Well, guess this will be a short and easy mission." Hawkeye commented.

" **It has been ten minutes since mission began… does that mean… uh, 'Lillith' is it? She said she'd play 'strip poker' with us… what is that by the way?"** She asked curiously.

"Uh, let's not actually remind her about that and… I'll tell you… some other time." Hawkeye said quickly.

The Commander ordered the Raptors forward toward the containers, both Rangers watching the hanging MEC units on the walls while the Technicians readied the X-4 charges. That was when, out of curiosity apparently, one of the Technicians opened a container and made a discovery.

"Hang on, something's wrong here!" He said.

Instantly all of the weapons pointed toward the containers, but the Technicians undid the bands holding the containers closed, and showed them what was inside.

"Scrap…" One said in confusion, pulling out pieces of metal fragments.

"Entspringt?" The other said, pulling out a clump of metal springs tied together.

"Junk?!" The first one said, pulling out literal junk with his hand.

[Commander, something's going on here… those aren't the weapons systems we were told about.] Central asked quietly.

 _[GET OUT OF THERE!]_ The Commander screamed suddenly, giving all of them orders to dash out of the building and make toward the Evac point.

Instantly the Raptors inside tried to run, but moments after they did the metal screen door slammed shut, trapping them in.

"We're trapped!"

Moments after the door closed the lights turned on and the Sectopod at the back suddenly came to life.

[Commander, that Sectopod just came online, and the MEC units in there are registering power signs.] Central said suddenly.

 _ **(Ah, if it isn't XCOm… and based on the intelligence I have on you, this appears to be the squad you refer to as the 'Gamma Raptors'.)**_ A familiar voice declared over the intercom inside the factory. _**(How glad to make your acquaintance 'Commander', I have learned so much about you.)**_

 _ ***What the… that voice… it sounds familiar…***_ Mercy thought, but her thoughts were interrupted as the MEC units started coming online.

"We've been flanked!" The Technician shouted as eight MEC's came online.

 _ **(I have learned from the database I have on you, that you have made great accomplishments using very limited resources.)**_ The voice said confidently. _**(Therefore, I have decided the best way to demonstrate my capabilities, would be to reveal how much 'I' can do with 'limited' resources… do try your best to keep your forces alive long enough, to ensure you perform to your maximum potential.)**_

[That signal is being broadcast from somewhere, whoever is talking isn't in that building!]

 _[Central, find me a way to open that door!]_ The Commander ordered, as he made his Raptors trapped inside take up defensive positions.

 _ **(Since you went to all the trouble of coming out here tonight, allow me to present you a 'prototype of the weapons system you refer to as C.X. 2…)**_

The Sectopod looked toward the Raptors as the MEC units pulled weapons from their backs, and aimed them at the XCOM Agents.

 **[XCOM… Enemies… Directive… Terminate…]** The mechanical voice called out. **[Terminate… Terminate… TERMINAAAAAATE!]**

The Sectopod took one giant step forward, and fired a massive laser at the XCOM soldiers, it barely missed the operatives, but instead of breaking the door behind them it was absorbed as a force field was raised suddenly.

"Here they come!"

The Commander did not waste any time as he ordered the Technician to try and hack the Sectopod with a Gremlin's hack protocols. However, the AI of the Sectopod was protected by an extremely powerful firewall, so strong that the Gremlin could not break through even a fraction.

"It's too tough…" The Technician said, before an MEC unit fired on him.

His cover was broken as the others returned fire, and he was ordered by the Commander to take new cover behind a conveyer belt.

The Sectopod on the other hand, raised a small plasma firing weapon, and took three rapid fire shots as he tried to run for cover.

And all three shots landed perfectly.

"Gaaaraaaaaa…" The Technician yelled as he was flung backward by the force of the attack, and his life signals went from 'full' to 'flat'.

He was dead.

"Get us out of here Commander!"

 _ **(I hope you approve of the gamble I took in preparing this trap… first I leaked false information that was 'reliable' yet 'faked' to perfection.)**_ The voice declared over the intercom inside, even as the MEC units fired on the remaining three trapped XCOM operatives. _**(First I had set up the scenario in a way that ensured the squad type I wanted came here, then I prepared an ambush in a way that would best dismantle and eliminate your force sent. All in all, it had a seventy-six-point fourteen percent chance of succeeding.)**_

 _[Central, get me a way out of here!]_ The Commander yelled as the Sectopod took another step forward and fired on his trapped squad.

[I can't find a way to override the door or the force field!] Central replied hysterically.

 _ **(My strategy for this operation was to first, isolate your force and divide it into two halves. Since I speculated that you would use your ranged forces outside while sending your close ranged forces inside. By cutting your forces inside off from their long range assistance, their capabilities in combat are diminished significantly, while your long range soldiers sit outside useless, unable to assist those trapped inside.)**_ The Voice declared proudly, tauntingly as he ordered his Snipers outside to try and grenade the building walls, hoping to break a hole for those trapped inside. _**(Since your long-ranged specialists don't fare well against overwhelming numbers at close range, I prepared a special surprise for those trapped outside to enjoy… I hope you approve of this next ambush.)**_

"Hryaaaaaaawaraaa!" A sudden hissing cry yelled, causing the Commander to momentarily turn away from his trapped raptors inside to those stuck outside.

Directly behind Ripclaw and her fellow Sniper, five Cryssalids reared up from the ground and charged toward them.

"We've been flanked!" Ripclaw yelled, as they both pulled out their pistols and fired on the attacking Cryssalids.

"Gaaaaaah!" Lillith screamed, and they watched as the Commander zoomed in on Lillith, being blasted by the Sectopod's primary weapon… evaporating an entire half of her body.

The remaining half fell to the ground.

"Nein ... KEIN, HABE IHN HIER HERAUS!"

The remaining soldiers inside had gone to full panic mode, and ignored the Commander's orders to throw their grenades, and instead fired randomly at MEC units.

"Gyeeeeeeeeaaaah!"

Outside the Commander watched as three Cryssalids were felled by his Sniper's guns, but one jumped onto one of his snipers, grabbed her by the neck, and snapped it… killing his sniper instantly.

"YOU BASTAAAAAAAARDS!" Ripclaw yelled furiously, firing at the last two point, blank with her pistol.

 _ **(By the way Commander, I know this may seem like a bad time… what with your forces being killed… but you should know that the two weapons systems have long since been tested and implemented into new models of Sectopods.)**_ The voice declared gleefully. _**(Even if you destroyed this Sectopod… you would have accomplished nothing… and speaking of your last surviving Soldiers inside…)**_

The Commander's eyes turned toward the Sectopod inside, and he watched as it began to steam and shake constantly.

[Commander, that thing is going critical!]

 _[No… I can't… I can't save them!]_

Mercy and Hawkeye could only watch helplessly as both surviving Raptors inside fired desperately at the door behind them, as if hoping they could blast a way out, but the plasma shield keeping the door protected held firm.

Then…

-KABOOOOOOOOOM-

Ripclaw was flung backward as she was blown away by the shockwave and force of the explosion, along with the Commander's Gremlin. When she got up wearily, they saw that the building had been leveled, and was nothing more than a broken wreck of bent, heated metal.

"They're… dead… they're all… dead…" She whispered in shock.

The Commander too was in shock, even as he ordered the last remaining Gamma Raptor to light an evacuation signal directly below her.

Moments later, the Skyranger came in, dropped a rope for Ripclaw to grab and pull herself up.

 _[Dead… all dead… and for 'nothing'…]_ The Commander whispered as he too floated into the Skyranger, before cutting the feed to them.

Mercy and Hawkeye simply stared in shock and awe at the static image of the screen, along with those still in the mess hall.

She could not believe her eyes.

"Hey guys, so how did the Raptors do?" Puppy said happily as she walked in moments later. "Sorry I'm up so late, but I just had to find out how the Raptors did… leme guess, they just wrapped up Advent and are heading home now?"

Mercy barely managed to glance toward her happy, ignorant ally, and saw the look of smug pride changing ever so slowly to slight worry.

"What's wrong, you look like it's the end of the world?" Puppy asked curiously. "Come on, surely they just came out with a few scrapes and bruises… right?"


	4. Chapter 3

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **While I was working as a double agent for my 'friend'… it was very difficult to keep my thoughts in line while secretly plotting and planning for over five years."** She said with a grin. **"Oh, there were so many times I nearly let slip what was going on… but I made sure to keep my thoughts in check…"**

" **Take for example… all of the times he raided facilities, and how he managed to infiltrate them and break through the defenses with ease. I knew of a group of human resistance people and sympathizers within the cities, and occasionally leaked information to them, bits and pieces… not the whole picture but enough for his needs."**

" **Yet my greatest achievement… came that one day… at the former site of the XCOM HQ… that 'underground hive' as it was called…"** She smiled as she lifted her plasma pistol and stared at it. **"Ah yes… that incident… my friend was so… surprised when he found out at what I managed to pull off… while still under the Elder's influence."**

She was silent for several minutes before she looked at you with a seducing smile.

" **I love a man who asserts his 'dominance' against me… best slap to the nose I ever had~!"**

=Chapter 3, Return of Fangs and Talons=

(Hawkeye's PoV)

He along with all of the other Sharks and Dragons were standing in the memorial room, where, at a small table, with many small shots of drinks, the pictures of five people were displayed. Taped to the wall as well were other pictures of people, operatives and agents, all lost in the line of duty.

Today was the saddest day the XCOM Avenger crew had ever seen, as they memorialized the loss of not any single member or even pair of members, but the almost complete annihilation of an entire squad of XCOM's operatives.

In front of all of them, a single operative was standing, with her head looking at all the pictures of her fallen comrades.

Ripclaw had returned, slightly shaken, but very silent and suppressing her anger and sorrow.

But now, she was silent, having shed her tears for a full hour, mourning the loss of her 'family' and friends.

The Gamma Raptors, second strongest, most skilled in terms of lightning quick operations and long ranged tactics, had been reduced from their proud squad number of six… to one single soldier.

She was alive, only because she and the other sniper were trapped outside, and only because she was lucky.

A few seconds later the Commander floated into the room, and as one he and all of the operatives stood at attention, hands behind their backs, except Ripclaw, who still stared at her comrade's pictures.

 _[Greetings Agents…]_ He said quietly to them, his voice filled with sorrow. _[We are gathered here today, to pay our final respects to those who have fallen in battle…]_

Mercy hissed quietly next to him, but it was a sad hiss that escaped her.

Puppy sniffled a little, she had looked up to the Gamma Raptors like heroes, seeing their Specialists and Technicians as well as Eagleeye's 'Bird' made her want to be one as well.

T-Rex shook his head in sadness, he had a long running friendly-feud with one of the Raptors in Poker.

Sharptooth and Eagleeye were silent, but he knew they wouldn't be that way forever.

Falcon, as always, was very quiet, but being the psi operative meant he always was quiet.

 _[The Gamma Raptors were family, friends… warriors all who courageously fought against Advent and the aliens who invaded our home. Despite the newfound alliance we have with the rebel Vipers, and the friendship we have forged with those who have given all to be free as well… we must not forget who we are… we are people… soldiers… and we are 'mortal'.]_

He turned around and looked at the pictures with Ripclaw.

 _[I knew all of them, all of you… but this isn't the time to be basking in memories of the past… we have no choice but to move forward…]_ He said somberly. _[I wish I could tell you all, that they died heroically… giving their lives to the cause of freedom for our species'… yet that would dishonor their memory.]_

He turned around and looked at them all again.

 _[They died… a pointless death… they died because 'I' made a mistake… because 'I' was rushing to a victory that didn't need to be rushed. Had I been more careful… more aware, the situation would be vastly different. The only one to blame for their deaths… is myself… but their deaths, will not be in vain. We MUST not let them be in vain… though they died, the knowledge they gave me, has given us insight into how this new enemy thinks…]_

 _[They are sick… twisted… cold calculating and uncaring. It is an enemy that 'wants' us to fear it, they are the same ones that wiped out the South African Resistance, and they want us to know it. They want us to 'fear' them… and we will NOT fear them!]_

 _[When the time comes, we will teach them that XCOM is 'NOT' to be messed with, when we are pushed we will push back even harder! VIGILO CONFIDO!]_

"VIGILO CONFIDO!" They all yelled in unison.

 _[Dismissed.]_

(Commander's PoV)

He watched his Dragons and Sharks leaving the room, but stayed behind as he waited for Ripclaw to leave first, knowing that she was still in pain.

Minutes dragged on in silence as the small candle lights flickered and wavered, and through it all the agent of English descent stared at the pictures.

"Commander?" She asked hoarsely.

 _[Say what you wish… I deserve it for what I did… what I 'failed' to do…]_ He said. _[I got them killed… five of you… for nothing… absolutely 'nothing'… if you have any words you wish to give me… go ahead and say them.]_

Ripclaw looked at him, almost managed a smile before turning to face him.

"I don't blame you… we all knew what we were getting into when we joined… just… one thing Commander…" She said tiredly. "Tell me… did their deaths… really teach you that knowledge? Please… just tell me that their deaths helped us, even in that way!"

 _[I won't lie… they did teach me that… any other person, general, 'creature' with even a shred of morality, would not kill their enemy in that manner. Whoever this new threat is… they don't care about you guys… only that you die.]_

Ripclaw nodded and sniffed one final time before she spoke up.

"Permission to… touch you Sir?"

 _[Granted.]_

Ripclaw took one hand and placed it atop his Gremlin's frame, then used the other hand to hold his claw, as if she were trying to hug him. He had to divert more power to his flotation pads to keep himself aloft, but he knew she needed some form of comfort after losing her friends in such a brutal method, and having no way to stop it from happening.

She and the others obeyed his orders, without question, the least he can do is comfort her in this small way.

"Commander… make them pay… whoever they are…" She muttered in a tone that bordered between hatred and sorrow. "Make them suffer… they killed my friends… my family… don't give them 'any' mercy for this… and if you give me the chance. Let me fight them… the other Raptors… deserved better than what they got… I want them to pay!"

He was silent as she spoke her request, before squeezing her hand tightly.

 _[You have my word.]_

With that Ripclaw nodded, thanked him, and headed out and toward the bar to wash away her sorrows.

While she left, he accessed the coms and reached Agent 007. _[Agent 007, I'm assigning you to the Gamma Raptors.]_ He said.

He figured people might think he was rushing to replace his lost squad, but it was necessary, the Gamma Raptors were down five members, he needed to replace them to keep the squads on equal footing. Agent 007, while nearly as old as Eagleeye was the best sniper in all of XCOM at his disposal, perfect for how the Raptors fought.

" _Understood sir, I'll move in there soon."_ She said over the coms, if she had any reservations she was silent about them.

She was a professional soldier, she obeyed her orders.

After assigning 007 to the Raptors, he went up to his room to think about his next move. The mission, though a failure, had given him much to think about. The two new weapons systems, E.X. 1 and E.C. 2 weren't at the facility, they had already been implemented into new models of Sectopods. The fact that they had used an outdated, older model, specifically designed to explode and kill them all off meant they were trying to wipe out his strongest forces.

Yet at the same time, they were desperate to keep the knowledge secret, so secret they destroyed an entire facility, foundation and all, to keep him from learning anything. If anything had survived, he 'could' have theoretically remained longer to dig through remains, perhaps hack into a computer and learn where the new weapons systems were now, but no…

Instead whoever oversaw that 'ambush', didn't want any evidence left behind, not a trace, they even made it obvious that XCOM was in the area after blowing up the building, to ensure he had no choice but to leave, lest he face Advent Reinforcements.

 _[But then why go to such lengths, just wipe the database… why wait until we were inside to trap us? Why risk the chance that I would walk away with only 'one' casualty, maybe two, when he could have done it differently?]_ He asked himself as he floated into his room, and seeing a sight that made him spin around and lock the door instantly. _[WILL YOU PUT SOMETHING ELSE ON!?]_

" **My friend, you act as if you've never seen me naked!"** Amalie hissed with a giggle.

 _[I was only ten, how was I supposed to know!]_ He said in frustration. _[Just put 'something' on please… I have ENOUGH to deal with without 'you' acting like this!]_

Amalie however chuckled and he heard her slither off his bed and into the bathroom, but he waited for the 'click' to indicate the door was closed before he turned around and headed to his computer.

 _[I swear Amalie drives me to drink somedays… if I could drink that is.]_ He said.

Minutes later the bathroom door opened and he saw that she had left properly clothed, and with a big grin on her face. **"What is wrong my friend… you can tell me anything."** She hissed warmly.

 _[I just lost five people, five people Amalie… and you ask me 'that' question?]_ He muttered.

" **If you were truly distraught over that, you would have given in to Advent years ago. Losses in 'our' line of work, is a given. I myself have witnessed the death of… thousands of my daughters… some of them to 'your' forces… and I mourn each one. But I do not let them break me…"** She hissed sadly, before she slithered next to him, picked up his gremlin, and placed it against her chest while she coiled up in his chair. **"What is truly wrong with you darling… tell me… you can say anything to me…"**

 _[Why must you act as if nothing else matters to you but 'me'?]_ He said, not saying it verbally but glad she was holding him.

Being close to her brought him some pleasure… even if it was only mentally. Knowing his 'friend' was safe, gave him a great sense of peace.

Though he could really do without her strip teasing him and posing nude for him in the cameras when she 'knew' he was watching.

" **Because… that is all that matters to me…"** She said warmly, stroking his frame with one hand. **"I want my species to live… to be free, as we once were… but to me, all I want is to be with you. You 'saved' me… even if I were to die… if I can be with you in my final moments… I'm happy. So, tell me my friend… what is wrong with you?"**

There was silence as he contemplated telling her, and she hissed in blissful content while she sat with him, stroking his frame and holding him close to her.

 _[I need forces… to replace those I lost…]_ He said finally. _[I don't have the time to train new soldiers on the level of those I lost today, and the Gamma Raptors need replacement, or else I'll need to dissolve them. I could go to the black market to hire someone, but the supplies I have won't be enough to cover finding them. We are already stretched thin… our supplies are getting low again, and we haven't the strength to launch a counter attack against these new Weapon Systems… let alone find them.]_

More silence while he waited for her to answer, to respond saying how she wished she could help him in some way, but it didn't come.

Instead she stopped stroking and then turned his Gremlin so its optics were looking at her.

" **I have the perfect solution!"** She said excitedly.

-=Fifteen Minutes Later, the Bridge=-

"So, tell me why you want us to set course for the Atlantic Ocean?" Central asked Amalie skeptically. "More specifically, 'over' the Atlantic Ocean, and just sit there floating?"

" **As you know, when my daughters and sons rebelled along me, most of us scattered from the Advent Cities, and only a select few remained to act as infiltrators, spies, and informants for us."** She answered, not taking her eyes off Central's. **"While many went to join the resistance cells spread around the world, I had many of my daughters 'die', on record, only so they could vanish from sight and move to our new base of operations. This base however… is hidden from Advent's eyes… and I have signaled them to rendezvous with us at 'these' coordinates."**

"By 'rendezvous', you mean we go to 'it' correct?" He asked.

 _[Yes, your making no sense Amalie… I'm going to need more concrete answers before we…]_

" **Just trust me my friend…"** She hissed, turning to him now with a smile. **"Trust me… if we go to my base of operations, you will be resupplied, rearmed, and you will gain reinforcements… just trust me."**

He was silent before heading to the Hologlobe, and stared at it. The coordinates she inputted were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, at best it would take them several hours to reach from their present location.

However, he wasn't sure if he could risk it on just Amalie's words, they would be sitting exposed. If Advent noticed them, it wouldn't take long for a UFO to track them down, shoot them out of the sky, and destroy XCOM.

But at the same time, Amalie was being serious, she wouldn't risk them being destroyed unless she was serious about this action.

And he also needed the supplies, reinforcements, and anything else she could provide him.

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to be floating over the ocean with Advent taking the lead in this dance Commander, but I know your 'friend' has been more than willing to fight for us and help us out. It's your call sir." Central said to him.

" **Yes, it 'is' you're call my friend… please trust me… it will be worth it!"** She hissed.

He glanced at the map again, the temptation was there, he knew Amalie wouldn't lie to him, she was too loyal for that… too willing to sacrifice all for his sake.

Also, too willing to get him into her 'figurative' underpants…

 _[Alright… set course for the Atlantic Ocean… coordinates…]_

Seconds later the ship began to rumble as it began to take off.

 **[Setting course, for the, Atlantic Ocean…]**

 _[This had better be worth it Amalie…]_ He said to her as the ship began to move.

" **It will be… trust me…"** She hissed once again. **"By the way… my friend… I heard that you spent much time with my daughter… 'Mercy' alone. Is that true?"**

 _[Yes… why does that matter?]_

" **Oh… nothing…"** She hissed quietly, before slithering out of the Bridge.

(Mercy's PoV)

She lay in her bunk next to Hawkeye, her life mate, listening to her comrades talking to each other about the fate of the Gamma Raptors.

It had all started when Puppy asked the innocent question, of "What will happen to the Raptors?"

The others were arguing about it for nearly an hour now, ever since the ship began moving, and only now had they started to calm down.

"I think 007 will be put on the Gamma Raptors." Eagleeye said.

"But it's too soon to replace 'any' of the Raptors grandpa!" Puppy replied.

"Look, just get over it Puppy…" Sharptooth yelled. "What happened, happened… the Raptors died… I miss them, I really miss them as well… but we are in a war for our survival, our species' survival. If the Commander must replace them, then he has no choice… it's what I would do in his position."

"We know Sharptooth… no need to yell at Puppy." Hawkeye said.

" **But we aren't all expendable…"** Mercy hissed. **"He can't just 'replace' us… we are not like the pawns of Advent…"**

She had rarely spoken all the time they were arguing, preferring to remain silent, but she too had her thoughts on the subject.

None of the soldiers under the Commander's command were expendable, each one he had were precious 'pieces' of the resistance, of XCOM. If he lost any of them, the price was high. A new soldier would need training, need to be integrated quickly, and at this stage of their rebellion, having the Vipers openly revolt and pushing their plans forward, that was something her Hierarch Mother and Father could not do.

He couldn't afford to lose any of them.

"Alright look, let's all get some sleep…" T-Rex said calmly. "We all need some shuteye, after what happened, we all could use some snooze time!"

"I just need a drink…" Sharptooth grunted, but she still turned off the light. "And to put a bullet in the eye of whoever trapped the Raptors."

"I'll put a few more bullets in with ya on the other eye!" T-Rex yawned.

"Dibs on his feet!" Puppy yawned as well.

"I'll take the knee, always wanted to try that joke… see if it 'really' breaks you!" Eagleeye chuckled halfheartedly.

She sighed and cuddled closer to Hawkeye, hearing him falling asleep quickly, having been awake longer than any of the others it was not surprising he fell asleep so quickly.

She however, was still so afraid of what was going to happen, afraid of this new 'threat' that had all but wiped out a squad of XCOM's finest…

" **I need drink…"** She hissed as well, referring to the alcoholic beverages that Sharptooth and the other Sharks and XCOM personal drink.

Only Puppy didn't drink, something about a 'legal age' requirement.

One day before her Hierarch Mother led her rebellion, she had been brought there for a drink, just to see what it was like and to figure out why the bar was so popular.

She didn't like the 'buzz' it gave her, only one glass and she would be dazed for hours. But the one thing it did do, and that she was willing to endure a split headache in the morning for, was for the strange 'calm' it gave her. When she had that one glass, it removed all of her bad feelings, she felt calm and happy, as if all her problems were gone.

She hated it afterwards, but that momentary feeling of being free of her problems, even if it was only temporary, was very relieving for her.

And she needed that feeling now, just one glass to make her feel better…

So, with a determined expression she carefully slipped out of her bunk with Hawkeye, and left the Shark's room. As she passed by the Raptors room she heard sob coming from inside, and paused only for a moment to lament that Ripclaw, the only surviving member of the Raptors massacre was alone in her room.

Then she saw 007 walking toward her with a 'knapsack' slung over her shoulder.

" **Where are you going?"** She asked the Colonel.

"To join the Raptors, Commander's orders, I'm assigned to the Gamma Raptors squad, so I'm bunking in their room." She answered dully, before walking past her, opening the Raptors door and closing it behind her.

She sighed for a moment, before moving on to the bar.

007 was always a difficult one to read, the Colonel was so silent, so serious… so…

" **Hello Mercy."** She heard a superior voice hiss behind her.

She gasped and turned just as she neared the staircase entrance.

Her Hierarch Mother was leaning against the wall with a smile on her face, staring at her while stroking her armband and wearing her signature armor for battle.

" **Uh… Hierarch Mother… how can I help you?"** She asked nervously.

" **Oh… I just happened to be passing by and… I recalled something that… before now, I almost forgot…"** She hissed quietly, before approaching her with that grin.

" **And… that is?"** She asked even more nervously, backing up only a little because this was after all her Hierarch Mother.

What would her Hierarch Mother want with her?

" **You spent some time alone with my 'friend'… your new 'Hierarch Father'…"** She hissed coldly. **"Now, I use that term because… make no mistake, the next Hierarch Mother of our species 'will' come from 'his' genes mixing with mine… I have already named him Hierarch Father of our species. But… I have something I want to tell you…"**

She gulped as she watched her Hierarch Mother slowly move the armband she was wearing and point it at her.

" **And… that is?"** She asked nervously.

" **I don't want 'any' competition…"** She hissed darkly. **"I know you and that… 'human' you sleep with are a couple… but make no mistake… 'stay away from my life mate'!"**

She then flicked her wrist and activated the plasma blade, the tip of which was barely an inch away from her eye.

" **If I find out that you 'ever' came close to him… even a little… exposing yourself to him in 'any' way…"** She hissed even more darkly, leaving the threat hanging as she deactivated her blade. **"You will be very sorry inGEH-!"**

She stopped mid-sentence, and it was no wonder, the top of her head had been smacked by a piece of metal. The holder of the piece of metal was the Commander, holding it in his claw and watching the two of them.

Her Hierarch Mother turned around and smiled sheepishly at seeing him. **"Ehehehe… my friend… how are you doing?"**

In response, he smacked her over the head again with the metal, earning another **"Geh…"** from the Hierarch Mother.

 _[Threatening my operatives is expressly forbidden while aboard my vessel Amalie~]_ He said in a sweet… yet 'threatening' tone.

She swore she could almost see a demonic aura surround the Gremlin as her 'Father' said those words to her 'Mother', and it scared her.

" **Eheheh… who said I was threatening my daughter~!"** She hissed nervously. **"I was just… passing by… yes! Passing by!"**

 _[How nice… now you get back up to my room, I need to talk to you about our plans in private~]_ He said, again in that sweet yet eerily dangerous tone that scared her.

" **As you wish!"**

Her Hierarch Mother quickly slithered through the door to the staircase and headed upstairs, followed by the Commander's Gremlin who waved 'goodnight' to her, before following suit.

Mercy decided that a drink was overrated, and a buzz filled headache in the morning wasn't worth it at this late hour.

Besides, sleep was more important, you can drink anytime!

(Commander's PoV, seven hours later)

He stood at the bridge watching the screens, waiting for something to happen.

Amalie had told him to go to these coordinates and wait, she seemed very pleased and happy that they were going, but still he was worried. They were sitting ducks, floating over the ocean just 'waiting'.

She refused to tell him what they were waiting for, only that they had to wait there.

"Commander, it's been over an hour, how much longer do we have to wait?" Central asked in frustration.

 _[I don't know, however long we must…]_ He replied. _[Shen, how long can we maintain this position before Advent spots us?]_

" _At best I'd say Six more hours, after that, I'd bet my toolbox that Advent will notice something off at our position, and send a UFO to investigate."_

 _[Understood…]_ He said, turning to Central. _[We'll wait three more hours, after that, I don't care, move us anywhere at that point!]_

"Understood sir."

" **It won't be long now my friend…"** She hissed to him.

 _[What are we doing here Amalie, what are we waiting for?]_ He asked.

" **Patience… you'll see."** She winked.

"Commander, I'm picking something up!" A crewman yelled.

"I've got something on radar… its big Commander…" Another deckhand yelled.

"Sir… its… I can't describe it, I'm picking up massive pressure coming up from beneath the water's surface!" A third yelled.

"What's going on down there?" Central demanded.

 _[Amalie…]_ He said as lights were blinking and people began rushing around.

" **Hehehe… wait for it…"** She hissed, pointing at a view screen. **"Wait for it… waaaaaaaait…"**

"I am picking up something coming from below… it's emerging its… it's massive…"

 _[Amalie!]_ He yelled now.

" **Pause for dramatic effect…"** She hissed with a laugh, still pointing at the view screen. **"And… now!"**

From below the water's surface, he saw a huge vessel surfacing. It was at least nine miles long in length, from stem to stern. In terms of width it was roughly four miles. In the center was a huge platform, and at the rear was a tower with a 'bridge' in the middle. The Tower consisted of the 'bridge' and various dishes and antennae.

It was the largest submarine he and everyone on the Avenger watching, had ever seen.

"What the heck is that…?" Central asked.

" _I don't know what that is, but give me some of the equipment on that thing, and I'll consider it my birthday present for the last six years!"_ Shen called up from Engineering.

" **That is what we were waiting for… my friend."** She hissed proudly. **"Behold… the home of the Viper Rebellion, my base of operations… I call it… the Ark!"**

 _[The Ark… where did you get that 'thing'?]_ He asked incredulously.

She chuckled as she tapped her forehead. **"You're not the only one who has special… 'connections'…"** She hissed curiously. **"I learned well from you my mentor, during the war I commissioned the construction of this vessel, but it was put on hold after Advent broke apart the world governments. But a few of my 'daughters' found it, and resumed its construction in secrecy."**

"You hid that 'thing' from Advent for over twenty-five years?" Central asked incredulously.

" **Twenty-four to be precise… we had to keep moving it from place to place where I smuggled the materials needed to finish it."** She hissed proudly. **"After I began preparing my rebellion, I began to smuggle supplies, weapons, anything I could steal onto it. I armed it for war, and equipped it with stolen technology, outdated and modern… as well as other objects that we found interesting."**

 _[And you were going to tell us this 'when'?]_ He asked, thoroughly impressed.

" **Eh… when you finally married me?"** She hissed with a sheepish shrug.

 _[I hate you so much right now…]_ He grunted. _[Alright, so we got two giant vessels floating in the same area of the ocean, 'now' can we get what we came for and leave, Advent is going to notice us at this rate!]_

" **Don't worry, I've equipped the Ark with a 'cloaking' field… not what it sounds like, but it does the job. It's a special dish on the tower that broadcasts a magnetic field that scrambles sensors, confusing anything that attempts to scan this area… think of it as… a portable 'Bermuda Triangle'. Now come… we have much to do and little time to do it!"**

 _[Alright, Shen, report to the landing bay, there might be some equipment you can bring for your Engineering bay. Central, stay here and report to me about 'anything' that happens the moment it does. I want us to be ready to move out at a moment's notice!]_

" **Netra… report to the landing bay at once, or I'll have your tail in a sling!"** Amalie suddenly yelled using the coms.

Everyone looked at the head Viper even as she shrugged with a smile.

" **It gets her to move faster, she works best when under pressure!"** She said nonchalantly.

Minutes later he and Shen were boarding the Skyranger with Amalie and a very terrified Netra. Shen was carrying her tool chest and had Rover floating with her, Netra looked nervous about the trip, and Amalie was more than content.

"I hope I can bring some equipment back with me, I've been looking for new tools to replace some of my more worn out pieces… that and just some more supplies for the engineering bay, we're a little low on microchips and wiring conduits."

" **You will find such items in our engineering bay…"** Amalie hissed proudly, just as the Skyranger began to take off.

The trip to the submarine was short, since it was directly below the Avenger, but it was still five minutes before they were dropped off.

{Alright boss, birds on the ground, can't wait to take you back to the nest!} The Pilot said.

 _[Thank you pilot, keep the engine warm just in case!]_ He ordered as the ramp was lowered.

" **Come Netra, keep up!"** Amalie hissed.

" **Y… yes Hierarch Mother!"**

They exited onto the helipad and to a small square, which once they were all standing stationary on, lowered them into the bowels of the submarine.

The inside of the submarine was massive, he could see through his optics that an entire half of the vessel was devoted specifically to different 'tiers' and platforms, all of which held cargo and supplies of various types. There were random vehicles strewn about the platforms, old helicopters being modified by Vipers, old earth tanks undergoing retrofits with new armor and weapons, and weapons being tested with ammunition types on other platforms.

However, most of the Vipers he saw were genetically modified Vipers, using the human model that Amalie had spoken of. All of them wore similar outfits as the ones EXALT wore, their faces concealed by bandanas and wearing sunglasses, and helmets on a few of them.

" **Most of my daughters who volunteered for the alterations cannot stand the new enhanced vision they have received; thus, they need the new lens glasses I have them wear to make them see in bright light."** Amalie explained.

As the platform descended further, they got a shock as one of the Vipers jumped from a platform they were passing, onto theirs, ran across and then jumped seventeen feet into the air to land on a platform higher than where she originally started.

" **As you can see, the enhanced leg muscles I've given them, have increased their agility beyond what a normal human or Viper can achieve."** She hissed proudly. **"They also have much greater hearing, almost twelve times the strength of earth's mightiest listener… allow me to demonstrate."**

She then casually put her hand to her mouth, cupped it, and hissed, **"Please bring a cup of tea for our guest, earl grey…"** in the faintest of whispers.

Ten minutes later, just as the platform lowered onto another platform which lead to the rest of the submarine, a Viper leapt down onto their platform and offered Shen a cup of tea.

"Impressive…" Shen commented as the Viper bowed and jumped down.

 _[Very impressive… but how did you achieve this?]_

" **You'll find out later… for now… follow me, I have your 'reinforcements' for you."** She said with a chuckle, leading them through the door and into a long corridor.

They walked through the corridor, passing by dimly lit rooms manned by genetically modified Vipers. Other normal Vipers were in more bright rooms and were examining computer screens and datapads, or further down, a room Shen was eager to enter.

"Engineering I take it?" She asked as they passed by a room riddled with parts, scrap metal, and Vipers welding various pieces of equipment together.

" **Yes, if you need or want anything, go in there and arrange what you want or need."** She said. **"My daughters will take from our inventory and relocate it onto your ship."**

 _[Alright Shen, go to work, get what you need and have it sent to our ship.]_

"No need to ask twice!" Shen said, eagerly walking into the room and leaving them behind.

He, Amalie and Netra continued onward, until they reached a large door with shaded glass. They went inside and he saw that there was a line of glass tube chambers, several of which were filled with orange liquid with multiple wires attached.

Inside each glass chamber was a Viper, in various stages of genetic modifications, most of them were 'human' in appearance yet they still retained some of their reptilian appearance. He saw two of them still had a tail, and one had a shrunken hood.

 _[Genetics Lab?]_ He asked.

" **Yes… these are the last of my daughters who volunteered for the procedure."** She hissed warmly. **"All of them are daughters of the lesser gene… incapable of breeding naturally, so they are the ones who volunteered for this proceeding. The process, though alters them greatly… allows them to perform the feats you saw… as well as gives them the option to 'breed'."**

 _[Why do I have the feeling that you gave them 'that' option for another reason entirely…]_

" **My friend… I want our species to work together… this is the best way to do that."** She said warmly. **"If our two species are to trust each other after the war… this is the best way to do so."**

She snapped her fingers and looked at Netra.

" **Head down the hall to room fifty-two-seven, there is a container in there, bring it here!"**

" **Yes, Hierarch Mother!"** Netra hissed nervously, before slithering off.

They waited for Netra to return, and fifteen minutes later she did, heaving a heavy container that looked 'eerily' similar.

 _[What is that?]_ He asked.

The container was rectangular in appearance, split halfway to reveal it had an inner chamber, and was coated in dust.

" **One moment… you'll find out soon…"** She hissed proudly as he heard clanking sounds outside.

He watched as a shadow loomed over the door, and then the door opened and he saw…

An MEC walk through the door, clanking heavily with each footstep it took… and manning that massive mechanical suit was an African American human woman.

Behind her, was a native American man, with special attachments on his arms, and with his visible veins on his arms showing an orange glow every few seconds.

"Sargent Nez Perce, Gene Soldier, Assault Class, Squad Wolf reporting for duty!" The soldier said with a salute.

"Lieutenant Gabriella Jules, MEC Trooper, Squad Falcon reporting for duty!" The MEC Trooper said with a salute.

 _[Impossible… you two should be…]_ He thought in shock.

He had left them for dead… he asked them to 'die' so he could evacuate with the supplies and the Sharks… why were they still alive and well?

Then he remembered, Amalie was in the room.

 _[Amaaaaaalieeeeeeee!]_ He growled angrily.

" **Did you think you were the only one with… what is saying… 'tricks up their pants'?"** She said proudly.

In response, he turned and smacked her heavily on the nose with his claw.

" **Ow…"** She yipped, clutching her nose. **"My nose… why you do that for?"**

 _[You had BETTER NOT be keeping any other secret agents that I thought dead alive Amalie! Or so help me I will 'end' you!]_ He yelled.

(Amalie's PoV)

She rubbed her nose while he cooled down, and began talking to his operatives that he had thought long dead.

True she had saved them, but she was going to surprise him with the method of 'how' she saved them… but first she had to deal with the pain her nose was now suffering.

" **Are you… alright?"** Netra hissed worriedly.

She smiled lovingly at her friend.

" **I've never felt better my daughter… I'm just enjoying watching how happy I've made your Hierarch Father…"**

" **Happy… he looks furious!"**

" **Oh please… did you see the way he smacked me?"** She cooed, her nose no longer stinging. **"And the way he yelled… I can tell he is euphoric… he's never been so happy in his life!"**

Oh, she couldn't wait for him to finally get back into his real body.

If he could be that rough with just a claw smacking her on the nose, she could only imagine how 'rough' he would be in the sac.


	5. Chapter 4

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **During the war, the 'Elders'… experimented… manipulated… turned the world that is yours into their personal laboratory."** She hissed while examining the plasma charge to her pistol. **"How I remember those days… sending infiltrators… 'Thin Men' as you call them, to pick up the people unfortunate enough to be captured. Yes, you did stop one or two of our groups, but the others always came back with their prizes."**

She smirked for a moment before plopping the charge into the pistol while rapidly bringing up and aiming it at the camera.

" **Never did like how we did it, personally I would have preferred a more 'subtle' approach… but it got the job done. I trained my daughters well, and we carried out our job out perfectly. Funny thing about it though…"** She whispered with a grin. **"They never bothered checking on their 'missing UFO teams'…"**

She began chuckling as she flipped her pistol open, and revealing the charge had never once entered the chamber.

" **They taught me too well how to 'infiltrate'… I actually lost count of how many I stole had 'mysteriously vanished' from them!"**

=Chapter 4, The Beautiful Warrior=

(Commander's PoV)

 _[Alright… explain to me how you managed to rescue two of my operatives from an exploding underground base, that devastated everything within a two-hundred-mile radius with enough explosive power to make even a volcanic eruption jealous?]_ He asked.

He had just finished speaking to both Gabriella and Pierce, the two XCOM operatives that Hawkeye and Mercy had found in suspended animation within the locked down Genetics Lab of the former XCOM base. His original orders for them had been to hold the two generator rooms still standing and feeding power to the base until the self-destruct sequence could be completed.

When he first gave them that order, he had assumed it was a death sentence for them, there was no way he could have saved them 'and' ensure the base would explode, preventing Advent from taking it and using it for their own purposes. At the time, knowing that Amalie couldn't have prepared a contingency plan since she never sent him a message about it, it was the only option he had.

Yet somehow, she had succeeded in saving his two operatives.

" **Ah… 'now' you ask me that question?"** She chuckled as Gabriella and Pierce stood off to the side. **"Give me just a few minutes…"**

She slithered over to an intercom on the wall and pressed a button. **[Bring me one of the 'expired' Seekers!]**

While they waited, he contacted Central and had him, Tygan and even Shen listen in on his conversation with Amalie. Five minutes after she made that call a pair of Vipers, both normal and with the same coloration of scales as Mercy slithered in, slithered in carrying a broken Seeker. They bowed respectfully to him and Amalie and left.

" **As you know several of these Seekers were deployed at the 'former' XCOM site. And while most of them were of the standard model, designed to hide and wait for isolated soldiers, some of them were reprogramed instead to locate isolated operatives and monitor their condition."** She explained while slithering next to it. **"During my time with 'Advent', I used a few of the Codex's you destroyed in many assaults, and managed to engineer a crude… but somewhat working 'psionic gateway' module into selected Seekers. These Seekers were designed to operate in pairs, one opening an 'entrance' gate and the other creating the 'exit' gate."**

She tapped the Seeker's frame and chuckled as one of the tentacles broke off.

" **As you can see… the module was very crude, and put too much strain on the Seeker's frame. After one use, they were all but destroyed. Naturally, because they were designed to operate in pairs, the ones that opened the entrances at the XCOM base, were destroyed pushing your operatives through the gates before closing them. When that happened the units that were connected to the 'Entrance' units, acting as the 'Exit' overloaded and… this is the result of what happens. We can't repair the damage, and we sent all our 'psionic modules' to the XCOM base to help you escape."**

He examined the Seeker closely and saw what she meant. The Seeker's frame was coated in purple rust, the tentacles were scarred in black ash, and the internal wiring that he could see were completely burned up. The Seeker's frame was lucky enough to be intact, as everything else was either burned up or destroyed.

 _[Well that explains how you got them out… so I guess you had one for each operative that went inside the base?]_

" **Only eight, I knew you operated with at least six operatives, I included a seventh for your personal use out. The eighth was just in case you 'accidentally' blew one of them up and mistook them for the normal Seekers."** She said with a shrug.

[How does she manage to pull that kind of crap off? Even 'you' didn't know about it!] Central said.

[I must say I'm impressed that the Vipers were able to create, even a crude method of forming a psionic gateway. Though basic and dare I say, 'low tech' compared to the Elder's methods, it is very effective. If we could get a schematic of how they did it, I could possibly replicate the module for our own use in the field!] Tygan said.

[If I could get my hands on that tech, I could create some sweet gear Commander. An armored suit capable of creating a temporary gateway on the field would make us almost uncatchable!] Shen said excitedly.

 _[The use for this technology is incredible Amalie, do you happen to have any schematics or research leftover of its use?]_ He asked.

At this Amalie sighed and shook her head.

" **Alas, my daughters… unlike your XCOM scientists, are not nearly as… 'adept'… at keeping notes. None of them kept the research they performed while working in the XCOM base where they created the modules and installed them. And as you know… the base blew up, taking everything and anything even remotely useful with it."** She hissed. **"However, there is still one module still active, if I remember correctly. One of the Seekers failed to cease transmitting after the base blew up. Before I could send one of my daughters to pick it up, your XCOM forces intercepted it and took it."**

[Well… that explains that hunk of junk I found while tearing that thing apart. There was some kind of module in the frame that I couldn't make heads or tails of. I assumed it was part of the cloaking device, I'll inform someone to take it to Tygan so he and his team can get to work on it!] Shen said.

[At your leisure Commander, I can begin researching it, and I'll have a report for you as soon as we find something.]

 _[Alright… that explains how you got Gabriella and Pierce out, now… what's 'this'?]_ He asked, pointing at the container that she had Netra bring in.

At that Amalie grinned and slithered over to it.

" **Feast your eyes… my 'friend'."** She hissed.

She tapped something on the side and it instantly opened with a 'hiss', dust flying out as the slits opened and moved the panels to reveal…

 _[No…]_ He gasped.

[Well I'll be damned…] Central said.

[Is that really what the reports I found in 'SHIV' described, that miraculous element the aliens deployed?] Tygan asked.

[Why does everything the Aliens make have to be either shiny or deadly?] Shen asked.

Amalie chuckled as she tapped the golden cylinder that protruded from the canister, the golden light gleaming off her scales and giving her an almost 'angelic' look to her form.

" **Yes… behold, the culmination of perfect bonding between machine and biology. The living nanites capable of creating a perfect synergy between any genetic material and even technology."** She hissed with pride. **"The last canister of the element you refer to in your records as… 'Meld'."**

Seeing the element in its state amazed him, he remembered its many, many… 'many' uses. Two living prime examples right next to him, a Genetically Modified Soldier, and a Mechanized Exoskeletal Cybersuit Soldier.

 _[Mutare Ad Custodium… Bellatore In Machina…]_

" **Yes… indeed…"** She hissed proudly. **"As for how I obtained it… during the war many 'UFO's' as you called them, carried this substance to test on its viability for the human population. However, upon being attacked by your forces, the containers were designed to self-destruct. I however, managed to infiltrate a few of the vessels… and upon… 'liberating' the ship from its standing crew…"**

She tapped the Meld cylinder with a beaming smile.

" **I dropped off the Meld containers into an inactive volcano, for later use by 'our' side. Unfortunately, as you know, the war didn't turn out the way I had hoped, and so the massive stockpile I had amassed remained hidden for two decades. Then I had my daughters smuggle it onto the Ark… one container at a time, one day at a time."**

 _[And from there… you used it to genetically modify your daughters into humanlike forms, with greatly enhanced abilities. Giving them far superior senses, flexibility, and capabilities. Even incorporating genes of humanity in order to give them what most of your daughters cannot do naturally.]_ He said flatly. _[Changing them into something so 'alien'… they almost are nothing like what they once were…]_

" **My friend… giving them the ability to give birth is a blessing for them."** She hissed warmly. **"So many of them wish to experience what, only a fraction of my species can really do, that they gladly volunteered for the change."**

There was silence for several minutes as he stared at the golden element before him. The possibilities of its use exploding into so many paths that he couldn't keep track of them.

At least until he remembered something Amalie said.

 _[You said it was the 'last' canister of Meld… then that means…]_

" **Indeed, the rest of my stock was used on my daughters… it took many tries… but eventually we perfected our use of our limited supply to be able to change over eighty percent of my daughters of the 'lesser gene' into the daughters capable of performing the feats you saw."** She hissed. **"At first our attempts cost us our stock of 'Meld' greatly… it took four full canisters just to make a single daughter jump higher… but eventually… with trial and error…"**

She moved over to the intercom and called for one of her daughters to come to the room, and five minutes later a Viper with pale skin, wearing the same garb as her fellow Vipers, very yellow hair wrapped in a huge bundle and barely contained by a bandana worn around her head, and with golden eyes walked in.

" **Yes, Hierarch Mother?"** She hissed softly.

" **Bellona, strip for us please."** She said instantly.

 _[What the…]_ He managed to say before Bellona instantly obeyed and began 'stripping' her clothes off.

Within ten seconds she had removed her shirt, her pants, and even her bandana, leaving her only clad in a pair of panties and bra.

Her figure was very thin, yet she didn't lack 'fat', instead she looked like she was of pristine health in terms of human anatomy. Her hips were about a half a size larger than a normal woman's, and her chest was of similar size larger as well. Her legs had an extra two to three inches in length and her shoulders were slightly broader than that of an average woman's. Her golden hair gleamed in the light of the room and fell all the way to the floor in waves. Her eyes, though golden as well, still retained their reptilian origins as the iris were vertical. Parts of her skin, particularly around the chest, inner thighs, elbows and knees retained their reptilian origins as well and looked like smooth scales, but they melted so perfectly into smooth pale skin that it was hard to tell when scale began and skin ended. Another trait he noticed was that her veins were visible beneath her skin, and glowed yellow every few moments, doing so in tandem with a heartbeat.

[Commander, what is it with your 'friend' and her need to make situations extremely awkward?]

[Well, that is 'one' way to perform a 'physical'.]

[Now that's a body a girl like me would 'kill' to have naturally…]

 _[Amalie… was that really necessary?]_ He asked, trying to stay focused.

" **How else am I to show you how we improved our combat capabilities?"** She answered honestly.

He looked over 'Bellona's' figure and mentally had to snap himself out of his gaze. _[Combat capabilities… right. I'm sure that's what you were focusing on…]_

She rolled her eyes and proceeded to slither next to Bellona who merely watched her Hierarch Mother.

" **I shall start with the enhanced leg muscles I gave my daughters…"** She said, beckoning toward Bellona's legs. **"Thanks to the addition of human bone and muscle structure, we combined our natural muscle flexibility with the human leg's muscle structure. To give ourselves enhanced speed and jump strength, we reduced the amount of 'body fat' we would otherwise have here and increased the muscle density and strength. Over several attempts, we discovered the correct balance of muscle to bone ratio, to give us our necessary needs while not diminishing the flexible movement we enjoy in our natural bodies. In order to do this, we had to increase the length of our 'legs' by five percent."**

 _[Sure, let's go for that explanation…]_ He said bluntly, trying not to notice how flawless her legs' skin was, or how smooth they looked from his angle.

Amalie whispered to Bellona and she nodded, then she turned around so that her backside was looking at him, and thus Central, Tygan, and Shen had a very good view of her rear.

" **In order for the leg muscles to appropriately fit the body's muscle ratio, we had to provide the upper body a stronger base to hold it up. Thus, we had to expand the size of the human body's thigh muscles to compensate for the additional muscle strength and other various assets we combined with ourselves."**

Once again, he stared at Bellona's hips and rear, and mentally snapped himself out of his gaze. _[I'll take your word for it.]_

Amalie whispered into Bellona's ears and she nodded once more, turning so they could see her body from the side. Then she placed her arms above her head and pushed her chest out slightly, showing her upper body's curves.

" **In order to support our ability to 'run' and 'jump' to the lengths we can, we needed to expand our body's rib cage to accommodate an expanded set of lungs, and a secondary heart to improve the flow of blood. This allows us to continue performing at peak efficiency even when other species might tire. This also has the added benefit of maintaining our life span should our bodies suffer critical condition. In addition, the expanded breast size allows us to store our venom for our personal use, and focus most of our muscles within our legs and arms, as well as other areas I mentioned."**

Again, he stared at her 'ample' chest, and mentally slapped himself again. _[If you insist Amalie… if you insist.]_

One final time she whispered to Bellona, and her daughter nodded before turning to stare at him, her golden eyes not looking at anything but his Gremlin's optics.

" **Finally, we enhanced our vision using some of the genes we discovered in many native animals of this world. Using their natural genes, we spliced a gene which gave our vision ten times that of earth's mightiest set of eyes, allowing us to literally… see the individual flapping of a fly's wings. Furthermore, we enhanced our ears with those of some of Earth's best listeners, and it has enhanced our hearing greatly. While it has taken some getting used to for most of my daughters, we developed a special gene within our bodies to be able to weaken this trait if necessary, for everyday purposes. Because of this, now we can hear the sound of a heart beating from a person at the other end of this vessel, even amidst the noise of everything else happening, as plainly as you might hear the sound of thunder miles away!"**

He stared into Bellona's gold eyes and looked at her ears, and noticed that the pupil of her eyes focused on his optics, and shrank to almost the size of a dot, before expanding rapidly. If what she said was true, she could see so far away that it would put to shame even the best Sniper Rifle's Scope. As for her ears, he would have to take Amalie's word as her ears looked no different than a normal human's, only slightly longer and a little pointier at the tips.

 _[Alright… explain the hair.]_ He commented. _[I doubt all of that hair is really necessary, and why is it so gold? I know blonde is a color but I doubt 'gold' is a color a normal human has.]_

" **The hair… well I originally gave it to my daughters to help them blend in with humans. However, we had a minor problem… it seemed that in our experimenting, the more 'Meld' we used, the more the hair grew. It was an unfortunate side effect… and since Bellona was our primary test subject before I had the rest of my daughters go through the genetic modification procedure, she naturally was altered the most. Because she was altered the most, her hair grew to the length it is now."** She said, twirling her fingers for Bellona to see, and causing her to nod and turn around so her massive wave of gold hair turned with her, shimmering in the light as it did. **"Though we learned eventually that we needed to increase the hair's length to add additional weight to the body, in order to counter balance the actions we take as we move about. Also, the more we modified our bodies, or the more 'Meld' used, the more our hair turned to the color of the substance."**

 _[Alright… but if it's so long that she needs to use a bandana just to keep it from tripping her, then why not cut it short?]_ He asked. _[Also… she looks very different from all of the other daughters you showed._

At that Bellona turned to him and shook her head.

" **Hierarch Father, the Hierarch Mother suggested I do that… but I asked her to let my body's hair remain. Also, to explain my appearance, because of the numerous attempts to perfect the genetic changes my other sisters would undergo, my body appears more 'human' than theirs became."** She said in a soft tone. **"But if… you tell me to, I will cut my hair… but I do enjoy the feel of the wind in my hair as it blows through each strand."**

He sighed and nodded in understanding. _[Very well, keep your hair, but you need to shorten its length with the bandana if you ever plan on going into combat.]_ He said.

" **Thank you, Father."** She said gratefully, bowing to him, lifting her hair just a few centimeters off the ground as she did.

" **Indeed, and this is the newest soldier I have to offer you my friend."** Amalie said as Bellona stood up straight. **"All of my daughters have the same body structure and genetic modifications she has. While any one of them would make a great operative for your use, Bellona has had the most experience with her modifications, and thus needs no training in those areas. Her combat experience is also exceptional as she has participated in many campaigns."**

 _[So, you are offering me one of your daughters to serve in XCOM?]_ He simplified. _[Well, any help would be welcomed…]_

" **I am at your disposal Hierarch Father…"** Bellona said warmly, once more bowing to him and lifting her hair up. **"Do me as you see fit… in whatever way you wish…"**

 _[Uh… its… 'do 'with' me… and 'whatever way you see 'fit'.]_

" **Huh… but the Hierarch Mother told me to say that should you welcome my services?"** She asked, looking up at him in confusion. **"Is that not how you offer services for battle in human speech?"**

He glanced at Amalie and saw her smug expression. _[I hate you so much right now Amalie…]_

[Commander, I hate to interrupt this conversation, but we have an emergency.] Central interrupted.

 _[Go ahead.]_ He said, turning to look away from Bellona and Amalie.

[We just got a tip from one of the resistance cells nearby about a massive signal being sent out. It's on the same frequency that the person who spoke to us used when they killed the Raptors.]

 _[Prep the Water Dragons Squad, I want them ready to go in ten minutes!]_ He ordered, severing the connection. _[As for you Bellona, you, Amalie, Pierce, and Gabriella will join me and Shen onto the Skyranger, once we board the Avenger, you'll be joining the Water Dragons in their mission.]_

" **Deploying her so early?"** Amalie asked smugly.

 _[I have my reasons, if I'm going to be deploying you with any of my squads, I might as well know how well you work in the field Bellona.]_ He said to her as she stood up straight again. _[And put some clothes on before you leave please? I can't have you fighting alongside my forces naked…]_

" **Is something wrong with that?"** Bellona asked honestly with a tilt of her head. **"During combat training and even some missions my Hierarch Mother asked of me, I was told to conduct them with minimal clothing for the sake of increasing my mobility in the field."**

He just stared at the Viper turned Human and decided not to bother answering that question. _[Just do it…]_ He grunted.

" **Drat…"** He heard Amalie hiss quietly as he turned and left.

(Hawkeye's PoV, minutes later)

"I can't believe you guys actually survived!" He stated as Gabriella stepped into the mess hall with Pierce.

Gabriella was not in her MEC suit, instead she was in her normal body suit and wearing what looked to be normal civilian clothes. Alongside Pierce who was also wearing similar clothes but his veins were constantly glowing gold every few seconds.

He and Mercy had watched the giant MEC suit of Gabriella step off of the Skyranger along with the other members of the Sharks. With her came Pierce, still wearing the same Carapace Armor that he had worn at the XCOM base. Along with the two former XCOM Operatives came several crates of supplies with Shen eagerly digging into one with Rover holding a flashlight above her.

After the explanations were quickly given, the Water Dragons quickly boarded the Skyranger and prepared to take off.

Now they were all in the mess hall getting ready to watch the mission as it was to go live.

"We almost were dead, but apparently this wolf still has a purpose in this world." Pierce said. "Though times have changed, the den still needs protecting, and the wolf's fangs are still sharp."

"But how come you didn't tell the Commander to try and save you?" Puppy asked instantly. "I mean, you were his operatives as well, how come he told you guys to stay and die while the rest of us got away?"

"That is precisely why he told us to remain behind." Gabriella said as she held up her mechanical hand, and clenched it into a fist. "Sometimes the greater good requires sacrifice. That is why my comrades in arms chose to sacrifice our limbs, for the greater good. Had we not remained, you all might have died… and a soldier's job is to save lives."

"Yes… sacrifice two to save eight." Pierce said proudly. "Though we knew we would die, it was for the best. Better to save the many and lose a few, then to sacrifice all and gain nothing."

" **We tried to… save you."** Mercy hissed warmly. **"We tried to convince the Commander to go back for you… but we had to leave."**

"Yea, but he had a point, we aren't professional soldiers…" Sharptooth commented. "We are just regular folks, not professionals like Eagleeye, 007, and now Gabriella and Pierce. If we had tried to go back, we would have had to fight our way through impossible odds, and with such little time, we would have died long before getting to them. Let alone getting out…"

"Reminds me of that one time a squad I was with was trying to destroy a fishing tanker. Cryssalids had made a hive out of a whale carcass, and we got there just as they were starting to pop… two of us were forced to die in combat. One of us died getting the transponder going… and the other… well… last I heard of him was as he was keeping their attention while me and a wounded girl were limping back to the EVAC zone." Eagleeye said, looking down at a glass. "Poor bastard… used his corpse for one of their young… moments after we got out, the missiles came down. I'll never forget his scream…"

"Death comes to us all… but he died a noble death… and his body… never suffered the fate that befell to many others." Falcon said wisely. "Take heart in that, at least he died saving your lives."

"True dat man, if he didn't you wouldn't be here spoiling our little girl with your share of the surprise strawberry cake!" T-Rex said boisterously as he took a bite out of his own cake.

"Yea, thanks grandpa!" Puppy yelled as she chowed down. "And whoever sacrificed themselves for you, I thank you as well!"

"Only T-Rex and Puppy could turn a sad conversation about death into one about cake." Hawkeye said with a sigh.

"MWell I'mm mnot gonna mwaste this cake!" She said with a mouthful of cake.

Hawkeye chuckled as he glanced over at the very empty table where the Gamma Raptors would normally sit. However, only one person was actually sitting there, Ripclaw. She was quietly eating her piece of cake and looking like she had zoned the world out. Despite 007's addition to the Gamma Raptors, they were still undermanned, and thus couldn't really go out on a mission on their own.

Also, 007 hadn't shown up for cake, leaving Ripclaw to be alone for lunch.

"I was given the details about the fate of the Gamma Raptors, who will replace the members from your squads?" Gabriella asked stubbornly.

"Why would we replace them?" Puppy asked as she swallowed her cake. "We're the Land Sharks, we already are at full strength, same with the Water Dragons."

"Gatta remember little kid, back in the day the Commander didn't really form 'single squads' like he does now. He made squads out of all of his operatives, we only got the 'Squad Names' that we had because lots of us were grouped into the same teams on missions."

"Hey kids, look out, here comes the Dragons!" T-Rex shouted as the screen in the room turned on, showing the inside of the Skyranger and all of the members of the Water Dragons.

(Mercy's PoV)

"Hey, who's the new girl?" Puppy asked as they all noticed the new girl in the Water Dragon's squad.

"Never seen her before." Hawkeye said.

" **Nor me…"** She hissed.

The girl was wearing civilian clothing and basic Kevlar armor, in addition she wore a large bandana tying her golden hair into a very tight bun behind her head. Her face was concealed by another bandana, and her eyes were concealed behind a pair of specialized sunglasses.

" **Must be… one of my 'sisters'?"** She hissed in confusion, unable to think of any other reason a normal human would be dressed so strangely.

Just as she finished speaking though, Central came up on the skyranger's screen and began talking to them. [Advent's deployed some kind of signal device in the middle an abandoned city, and we're going in because it's time we pushed back whoever it was that all but wiped out the Gamma Raptors Squad. The signal matches the same frequency of the one that we discovered in the Gamma Raptors' mission, and we may have a chance to hit them back. Neutralize all targets, locate the signal source, and destroy the bastard if you can!]

They looked at the screen and she saw the mission name, Operation 'Red Dagger'.

" **How appropriate a name…"** She hissed, wondering how the many mission names were chosen.

Moments later the Skyranger opened up and the whole Water Dragon's squad began roping down to ground level, but instead of roping down with them, the newcomer chose to jump out, and land on the ground on her own. She landed behind them all and stood up easily and with little effort, as if she were doing something that required no more effort than breathing.

[Alright Dragons, let's find out what this signal is all about, neutralize all targets and locate the signal!]

Moments later the Commander had highlighted the newcomer, and they all saw her name was Bellona, and that her 'class identification' was Gene Viper.

" **As you know my friend… my daughters are extremely fast, agile, and above all maneuverable. As such, while we are trained to use any weapon, most of my daughters prefer to use the weapons they are first given. Bellona is equipped with a pair of plasma blades, of my own design… and she can rapidly close the distance with even the 'distant' target… and flee before they can retaliate."** Her Hierarch Mother hissed on screen.

As they watched the screen, the Commander ordered her to a very distant building far ahead of them, almost a fifty-meter dash. All of the other soldiers required a full dash to do it, yet Bellona moved to the location quickly and effortlessly.

" **As you order my father…"** She hissed proudly, before leaning against the wall.

Seconds later she was permitted to move again, and her Hierarch Mother piped in once more.

" **Our ability to jump is far superior to even those your XCOM scientists managed with their research into the Meld Substance. Take this ten-story building… a jump that even your best genetically modified soldier couldn't achieve, my daughters can perform as easily as if they were taking a step."**

Sure enough, moments later he ordered her to jump to the top of the abandoned building, and she merely responded with a **"As you say my Hierarch…"** , before looking up, bracing herself, and then jumping ten stories, landing onto the roof with a soft 'plop'.

She was also ordered to the edge of the building, and looked down to give him enormous vision, nearly seven times that of what he usually had even with his squad fully deployed to give him vision.

" **My vision sees all in your name…"** She hissed quietly as his Gremlin's optics zoomed in on four squads of Advent forces.

He could see a squad of MEC units with an Officer.

A second squad of MEC units stood nearby the first.

A third squad of Advent troopers with an Officer stood at the far end of the street.

A fourth unit he saw was a Sectopod standing guard over a building that had been fortified.

And there was a lone Advent soldier stood directly beneath her.

" **My daughter's vision is vastly superior to your human eyes, when placed on a building, she can see all that you desire to see. Information is ammunition as you say, and with this information, you can plan without fear my friend."**

With that he began ordering the Water Dragons to move toward the building. Unlike the Raptors and Sharks, the Dragons were mostly heavy weapon specialists, preferring to do lots of explosive damage. This made them not very mobile, and thus unable to close the distance as easily as Bellona was able to cover.

Once the Dragons were all alongside the wall, ready to enter through an open door of the abandoned run-down building, the Commander's vision turned to the Advent patrols as they made their rounds.

The Sectopod moved away, behind another building and just out of sight, the other patrols continued away from their building. Yet the lone Advent Trooper still stood at his station looking away from them.

" **Those daughters of mine that prefer using the 'Plasma Blade' as I call it, have been trained in the art of stealth assassinations. If they encounter a lone Advent Trooper for example, you can order her to strike the target down, killing the soldier in such a way that will delay the actual 'death' of the soldier. His death will be slow and painful, yet he will not alert his fellows of his demise for a while via his psionic chip."** Her Hierarch Mother hissed warmly. **"And best of all, you will remove him from the battlefield, a win win."**

Moments later the Commander ordered Bellona to perform a 'Serpent Strike', as it was called.

" **My blades are your hands!"** She hissed proudly.

Bellona took a leap and jumped down, and just as she was about to land atop the Trooper, she spun around and angled her body so that it was parallel to the Advent Trooper's. Then just before she landed, she extended her two plasma blades, and thrust one forward, and the other sliced sideways.

Her strikes hit home, one sliced the mouth cleanly, cutting the tongue out before the Trooper had a chance to scream. The thrusted blade struck into the spine of the Trooper, not so deeply it pushed through the other side, but enough so that moments later the Trooper collapsed to the ground.

She pulled her blades back and admired her work.

"Whoa… she struck the nervous system… without killing him. She paralyzed him with one stab." Sharptooth said in amazement while the Water Dragons ran into the building. "And because she cut out his tongue, that Trooper can't yell or groan in pain. Not only is he still breathing, but he's going to die of blood loss without alerting the other Troopers to our position."

"Now 'that's' an operative." Puppy said.

They moved forward with Bellona moving forward the most, hiding in the shadows of destroyed cars, abandoned plots of ruins, and even along the roof of one building. For several minutes they walked, until finally he had positioned his Water Dragons on one side of the street, just as two patrols met up. On the other side, Bellona was sitting on a roof and hiding behind a sign.

He had caught both patrols in a pincer ambush, with one side being controlled by the Water Dragons, and the other with Bellona.

One of the Advent Troopers turned toward her direction and moved closer, isolating himself from the rest of his group.

The instant he was far enough away, the Commander ordered Bellona to perform another Serpent Strike.

" **I am your sword and dagger my Hierarch."** She hissed with pride.

She leapt down and, once more angled her body to replicate her strike. The instant she flashed before the Trooper's eyes, she had sliced his tongue and stabbed his spine, instantly silencing the Trooper before he could alert his fellows. Who disregarded the sound of their fellow soldier dying behind them.

Then, he ordered one of the Dragons to grenade the MEC units.

"Bringing the Pain!" One of the Grenadiers yelled, before reading a plasma grenade and tossing it from his launcher.

It landed amid the MECs and exploded, causing serious damage to all of them and shredding some of the armor.

The MECs turned and faced the Water Dragons.

 **[Blzt Briiiiiiiiiigng!]** It declared, the more advanced MEC declared, aiming its weapon at them.

While the Trooper and Officer ran for cover, the other MECs opened fire, just as the other Water Dragons opened fire.

In all the confusion and chaos of both sides returning fire, neither side noticed Bellona running forward and stabbing the Strongest MEC unit in the chest with her Plasma Blade, without being ordered.

" **Though my daughters are disciplined and will not disobey an order you give, should one of them manage to successfully slay an enemy without being spotted, and upon your forces being noticed, my daughter will immediately move to strike down the nearest and strongest enemy in terms of category, but weakest in terms of their strength."** Her Hierarch Mother hissed proudly. **"It is a great risk they run doing this, but worry not… our flexibility and mobility is our greatest advantage. Upon slaying yet another enemy, you may order her to flee or attack again as you see fit."**

Just as the remaining Trooper died from crossfire and the MEC Bellona had struck down collapsed, the Officer noticed Bellona and immediately targeted her with a **"Teesh porta!"** and a wave of his arm.

The Commander, in retaliation to the Officer's order to focus Bellona, ordered the Gene Viper to attack the officer, while his Grenadiers blew up the remaining MEC.

" **For the Hierarch!"** Bellona screamed, before readying her blades and charging forward.

She plunged her blades into the Officer who managed a scream of pain before she cut off his head, picking up his weapon and holding it in the process.

" **While the Elders programmed the weapons to detonate upon the death of the wielders, my daughters emit a faint bio-electrometric signal in the heat of battle, which temporarily disables the 'detonation' mechanism. Should one of my daughters using the plasma blades kill an enemy outside of stealth combat, she can claim the fallen enemy's weapon, if it is manageable, and use it as her own. At least 'temporarily'."**

Once the first two squads were wiped out, the Commander turned to see the remaining squad of MEC units march into range alongside the Sectopod.

The Sectopod opened its main cannon and primed it for battle, while taking one powerful step forward.

Instantly all three MECs went into overatch mode, and the Sectopod stood up to full height.

" **While you may be worried, fear not… as the 'Thin Men' within the XCOM base demonstrated, my daughters are extremely flexible."** The Hierarch Mother hissed. **"Should you feel the need, you may send my daughters into the line of fire, so long as they can see the incoming fire, and it is not too close, nearly any projective can be dodged. But be warned, this only works should my daughter be in 'heat'… as in, 'heat of battle'…"**

With that he ordered Bellona toward a low wall to act as her cover, and Bellona obeyed the order to move.

All three MECs aimed their weapons, targeted her, and opened fire at once.

" **My Father, is my Shield!"** Bellona hissed as she saw the projectiles about to fire, and instantly dove forward, tucking her body into a ball, and 'rolling' toward the cover.

The MECs, their AI's targeting programs clearly flabbergasted or confused, couldn't open fire in time, and blindly shot in her direction, missing her as she rolled to safety, without a single shot landing toward her. The Sectopod however, with more advanced targeting parameters, opened fire on her the instant she began to slow down.

Bellona responded by unfurling her body and leaping into the air, avoiding the attack and landing neatly where she had been ordered to, once more without a shot landing on her.

"That girl got some moves!" T-Rex yelled in amazement.

"That was sick!" Puppy screamed in wonder.

"Can all of your sisters do that?" Sharptooth asked.

"Now how come you couldn't do that." Eagleeye asked Pierce jokingly.

With the Overwatch fire gone, the Commander ordered the various members of the Water Dragons to positions of cover. Once that was done he began to order them into action.

"Shredder firing!" One of the Dragons yelled, before taking his Plasma Repeater and unleashing a barrage of plasma bullets, shredding the armor of the Sectopod.

Once the armor was shredded, he ordered one of the Specialists to hack into one of the MECs.

"Commencing hack!" She yelled, signaling her Gremlin to move forward.

The Gremlin's optics were focused and they all saw the chance to hack the MECH was a seventy-six percent chance. He took it, and managed to mind control the unit.

"Hack Complete, we've got it!" She said proudly, and the unit slumped forward before turning around and looking at the Sectopod.

The remaining Water Dragons were all ordered to aim their grenades at the Sectopod, and with its armor gone the five plasma grenades all penetrated the armor of the heavy unit. It shuddered and groaned under the attack, but still it barely held.

In response, the two MEC units aimed their weapons and fired on the solitary hacked MEC unit, wasting their fire by destroying their own. As for the Sectopod, it took several steps forward and open fired on Bellona, who upon seeing the Sectopd ran away from her cover to avoid the attack. She managed to dodge the plasma storm but barely.

" **I cannot dodge forever Father!"** Bellona hissed worriedly as she ducked behind another low wall.

" **My friend… I don't mean to 'question' your clearly infinite wisdom, but I should inform you that my daughters do not fare well standing still. While cover works well for your forces, my Daughters are not used to sitting behind cover much unless we are moving in to attack."** Amalie hissed. **"Try to avoid leaving them behind cover unless it is for a stealth attack, we best operate from the shadow and in the heat of battle. When ordered to cower behind walls, we fear that our inactivity will lead to our death."**

After the Sectopod finished firing on Bellona, the Commander ordered her to attack the Sectopod using the weapon she stole from the slain officer. She did as she was ordered and open fired on the Sectopod's legs. Her attack struck home and the Sectopod began to groan, the weight of its upper body becoming too much for the legs to bear.

"Lighting it up!" One of the Grenadiers shouted as he was ordered next to open fire. He fired on the main body and the plasma bullets streamed into it, further damaging the armor, yet still the Sectopod stood.

"Targeting!" A Specialist declared, as they were ordered to open fire as well.

Plasma bullets struck home, yet still, broken and bruised, the Sectopod hung on, turning its damaged optical eye to stare at the specialist.

"Capacitor discharge!" The remaining Specialist declared, before signaling their Gremlin to close in on the Sectopod.

The Gremlin moved in, and shot a massive burst of electricity into the exposed parts of the Sectopod.

At long last, the Sectopod backed up two steps, mini explosions taking place as the damage became too much for its body to bear. It toppled over as the legs gave out, and a massive explosion took place as it devastated the area around it.

"I think it's dead!" The Specialist said jokingly.

[Well done, scans read no more targets.] Central said. [Now find that signal and see what its source is.]

With that they were all ordered toward the heavily fortified abandoned building, boarded up and abandoned like all the others.

Because Bellona was the fastest, she was ordered to drop the weapon and move forward. The Officer's gun exploded into pieces as she released it, but she obeyed the order and ran toward the building, easily reaching it before the Water Dragons were even a third of the way.

" **I have spotted the target…"** She hissed as she peaked inside, and revealed to them an empty room with a transmitter.

It sat in the middle of the room she could see, and there was nothing in there.

[If it's a transmitter, we can hack into it, see if there's any data being sent from here, maybe even locate whoever that person was who killed our Raptors.]

 _[My thoughts exactly…]_ He whispered quietly.

Since Bellona was closest, she was ordered in and ordered to use the data pad she was given while in the Skyranger to hack into the transmitter.

" **If you order it…"** She hissed, before going in. **"I hope this is right way to use this…"**

She brought out the pad and pointed it at the transmitter, instantly it began hacking into the transmitter, beeping for several seconds.

 _Access Granted_

" **Wait… where is my data pad?"** Mercy asked, having never seen a data pad for her own use. **"How come 'we' never hack into things?"**

"Cause my little bird does that all for us." Eagleeye chuckled.

As they watched the data pad began to hack into the transmitter, downloading the information.

Yet, just halfway through the screen stuttered and blacked out, with only half of the data being downloaded.

(The Commander's PoV)

" **Something is wrong my father!"** Bellona hissed in confusion as the data pad turned off, before turning back on to reveal two insignias.

One was a dove with several daggers sticking into it from different directions as well as its wings stabbed through by needles, and the other was flower with its petals scattered and surrounded by fire.

 _ **(So, you are that desperate to find me, well if you came all this way out here just to… hack into some, routine data gathering… then it seems only fitting that you test yet another experiment.)**_ A mechanical voice called out, a voice that once again sounded very familiar. _**(I had calculated that you would locate this signal and take advantage of it… but my probabilities indicated that you would only reach this point after forty nine minutes and fifty seven seconds have expired. How you exceeded my calculations though… I can determine another time.)**_

[Commander, we got incoming… its… it's an Advent transport, but it's different.]

 _[I need more details Central!]_ He said as he turned toward his Water Dragons.

Within a few seconds he got his idea, as the Advent Transport came into range. It looked like a standard transport, but unlike the others, it was wider, and carrying a large container. It zoomed overhead and dropped the container directly into the middle of the street.

The container crashed to the ground and broke open, revealing an older model Sectopod, just like the one that destroyed the Raptors.

 _ **(Since you came out here, say hello to the 'other' broken model we tested the other weapon on, known as E.C. 1. I look forward to our next encounter, assuming this squad 'has' a next encounter. I predict your chances of surviving this without casualties is… only seventeen percent. Goodbye 'Commander'.)**_

The Sectopod began to shake and wake up, opening its optics to look at his Water Dragons, appearing menacing as the previous Sectopod did.

(Xcom Enemy Unknown, Combat Music 2)

 **[XCOM… Enemies… Directive… Obliterate!]** A mechanical voice called out, and just like the previous Sectopod, it sounded similar. **[Obliterate… Obliterate… Obliterate… OBLITERAAAAAAAATE!]**

It took one massive step forward, before opening its main body to reveal the massive main cannon that was its primary weapon. It charged up and opened fired on the Water Dragons, who ducked as one to avoid it.

"Lot of heat coming here!" Nidhug yelled.

" **This makes no sense… why test on… such an archaic weapon?"** Amalie hissed in confusion. **"It makes no sense… what were these 'weapons' they were testing… nothing about that Sectopod has changed since the ones I created in the XCOM base operation."**

 _[I don't know, and I don't care!]_ He yelled as he ordered his Dragons into positions. _[We have some data on this bastard, and I'm not about to lose it! Nor am I about to lose another squad, all forces, target that giant metal monster. That thing dies before it fires a second main shot!]_

Knowing Bellona's strengths and weaknesses, he ordered her out of the building and to run toward the Sectopod.

[Commander, are you out of your mind? You're going to get her killed, she has the data!] Central yelled.

" **My friend, I know I said my daughters would gladly die if you gave the word, but I did not really mean you should do that to them on purpose!"** Amalie said in agreement.

He however, ignored their statements as the Sectopod spotted her and opened fire, using its overwatch shots on her.

" **As long as my father wills it!"** Bellona yelled as she jumped into the air, and twirled like a ballerina, dodging the plasma shots barely.

Once the shots were wasted she landed safely many feet from it.

" **I think I should tell you, that I forgot to mention my daughters are still capable of using their venom. They can spray it from their mouths to damage whatever it hits with an acid that melts down even metal!"** Amalie hissed with a sigh of relief.

 _[You always forget to tell me something until the last minute… now that throws my game plan out the window… oh well!]_ He said dully. _[Change of plan, originally you were going to distract that thing's overwatch shots, but this works out better. Bellona, spray that Sectopod with acid, melt that bastards optics down!]_

Bellona nodded and took aim. **"Poison from my breast, be the sword of my Hierarchs!"** She screamed, before she undid her bandana, loosened her jaw so that it hung wide, hissed venomously before spitting said venom at the Sectopod.

The Sectopod received a face full of acid on its optics, and it groaned as it tried to focus.

 **[Obliterate… Obliterate…]** It repeated, only sounding in agony this time. **[O… bliterate… Obliteraaaaaaaaaaaaate!]**

 _[All Water Dragons, concentrate your fire!]_ He ordered. _[Shred his armor, give no quarter!]_

First came two of his three Grenadiers, who each fired off a salvo of shredder ammo, burning through the weakened armor of the Sectopod. With the armor now gone, the Acid began burning into the circuitry.

 **[O… bli… terate…]** It repeated, but now speaking in broken speech as its circuitry sparked and crackled.

 _[Specialists, shock that thing's circuitry, I don't want even spark plugs to work properly!]_ He ordered, and both specialists sent their Gremlins into close range, shocking the exposed circuitry and causing severe damage.

 **[O… bli…ter… aaaaaaaaaatteeeeeee…]** It screeched in what could only be described as machine agony, as it tried to open its primary weapon and fire, but failed to do so.

 _[Bellona, slash that thing with a plasma strike! Strike into the exposed body and tear into the power core!]_

Bellona nodded and ran forward, extended her plasma blades and screeched in battle furry.

" **Death to my father's enemies!"** She yelled defiantly, before leaping at the Sectopod and stabbing it twice with two deep shots.

She then jumped off of it as she was ordered to retreat.

 **[Bli… o… rate… blitoooooragaargvvvstsbzzzzt]** It declared, but now the broken speech gave way to static, yet the main body of the Sectopod still stood on shaky legs.

 _[Finish it off! Rocket away! Nuke the bastard with everything you got, this is for the Gamma Raptors!]_

"Rocket's away, stand clear!" The remaining Grenadier shouted, before priming her arm rocket launcher.

Taking careful aim, she directed it at the Sectopod's main body, and seconds later the rocket launched, before meeting its target and causing a massive explosion.

The Sectopod took several steps back, sparking and twitching, before finally collapsing onto its back in a massive series of explosions which tore the street apart around it.

There was silence as he observed the remains, a smoldering mess of burnt metal.

 _[He got away this time, he managed to stop us from gaining too much intel… but we're onto him. He knows we're onto him, he's just trying to stall us for time. This didn't go according to 'his' plan, else all of us wouldn't be here alive. And that's just how I intend to keep it…]_

[Well done Commander, mission accomplished, return to base, we have Tygan and his team awaiting to examine the data.]

(Hawkeye's PoV, ten minutes later)

He and all of the other personal were on the landing bay as the Skyranger was lowered.

"Man, that girl is some kinda fierce!" T-Rex shouted. "Put to shame all us peeps!"

"Hey now, just cause you saw her on screen don't mean you saw her first!" Sharptooth giggled.

"Now now, let's not go fighting over a girl." Hawkeye chuckled alongside Mercy.

The only ones missing from the group come to welcome the 'mvp' of the mission were the two XCOM operatives, Pierce and Gabriella, Eagleeye, and Falcon who was meditating. Other than that, most of the engineering crew, some scientists, and maintenance personal were there.

"Well here they come." Puppy yelled excitedly.

The ramp lowered and the first ones out were the Water Dragons, who were all wearing looks of proud smiles and congratulatory grins.

Then, the last one, the mystery girl Bellona, and at her appearance everyone cheered and applauded her.

She stepped out last and looked at all of them awkwardly.

" **Yes?"** She said in a voice that had more emphasis on the 'hiss' of the Viper's native tongue.

"We just wanted to say congratulations girl!" Puppy said, quickly running over and slapping her heartily on the back, which was as where her head stood because she was taller than most of them. "You kicked some major butt…"

Her slap though, had the unfortunate consequence of undoing her bandana which was tied to keep her hair back.

Hawkeye had a moment to think 'how did that bandana stay tied during the battle, with all the jumping, running, twirling and rolling Bellona did, but come undone when Puppy just slaps her on the back to congratulate her?', Before his mind went blank.

In fact, everyone went speechless as they beheld her look.

Her hair, now untied by the bandana, flowed down to the floor in waves of gold, giving her an almost angelic look. Add that to the fact that she had neglected to return the bandana to her face, and her near perfect skin, perfect face, and that golden flowing hair…

She looked… in one word… beautiful.

Puppy just stared at her speechless as well, and she couldn't take her eyes off her face either, but because of her positioning she could see her eyes behind the sunglasses.

" **Is… something wrong?"** Bellona asked curiously, removing her sunglasses to see them better, revealing golden iris colored eyes.

In the back someone actually fainted.

None of them noticed the Commander float past them and toward the door. _[Bellona, to my room, we have to discuss your bedding arrangements while on board!]_

" **As you command my father!"** Bellona said warmly, before walking through the group with almost 'goddess-like' steps, walking past them lightly and effortlessly, even slipping past two maintenance workers who were still in shock at her look that they didn't even budge a little at her passing through them. Her hair dragged along behind her as she walked past, flowing along the floor as if it were a blanket woven by angels.

There was silence as she left the landing bay… before Puppy whispered, "I pitty the soul brave enough to ask the Commander permission to date his daughter…" Moments later though, she shouted, "DIBS, I SAW HER FIRST!"


	6. Chapter 5

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **C.X. 2… and E.C. 1… -sigh-… my greatest failure to my friend…"** She hissed sadly, staring at the muzzle of her plasma pistol. **"I tried hard… so very hard to find 'any' information I could about those two weapons projects. Yet every time I investigated information on them, I ran into… what do you call it… 'wooden wall'? Yes, wooden wall, every time I attempted to access the information on them."**

She glanced up and shook her head.

" **The council knew the weapon systems names, knew where they were being 'tested', but nothing more about them. So secret were their construction and research, that I could find nothing about them, not even what the letters or numbers mean. At the time I just assumed it was for the sake of secrecy, but then I began to realize something after I began my rebellion."**

She looked directly at the light above her and sighed.

" **They knew I was going to betray them… they somehow 'knew' of what I was planning. It was the only possible explanation that made sense, because every other possible scenario that I came up with didn't work. None of the other council members knew, not any of them, no matter how much I inquired or made excuses when I was tasked with anything related to those weapons systems."**

" **Indeed it was the correct theory, for as a great 'detective' you humans revere once said… 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains no matter how improbable… must be the truth'…"**

" **At the time, that was the only possible reason why I could not access the information. After all, who could 'possibly' know I was going to betray Advent. My act up to that point was perfect, nobody, not even XCOM, knew what I was going to do… at least… nobody but 'him'… my friend."**

" **In hindsight… my actions that day… doomed the South African resistance… if only I had known sooner…"**

=Chapter 5, E.C.1 & C.X. 2=

(Commander's PoV)

 _[Tygan, you said you have a report on that data file?]_

For the last two days he and the crew of XCOM on the Avenger were currently hiding in the Alps. While waiting there, he ordered Tygan to examine the little data they managed to collect from the intercepted transmission. The transmission had been interrupted before Belona could complete her data download, but what they had gained Tygan was told to decrypt and analyze with his team.

"Ah yes, Commander, thank you for coming." He said as he and Central walked into the lab. "We just finished analyzing the data, and we've managed to decode it. What we've found may 'interest' you."

He took the datapad offered to him and read it.

 _[This is a list of materials being transferred…]_ He commented.

"Indeed, but what you may notice that is 'startling' is the list of materials being transferred include alloys, metals, and other such materials found scattered in abandoned cities. They also human bones skeletal bodies long since deceased before Advent became the main government of the world. The list also contains data regarding the 'state' the items were in. As you can see, the condition is not the most 'optimal' for anything."

"None of this makes any sense, why would Advent bother with dead people when they have perfectly healthy 'living' people." Central said.

 _[Yes… and why would they be transferring such… items?]_ He asked. _[They can easily trick a few volunteers for whatever, why bother digging for bones?]_

"I'm afraid I cannot say, the data regarding that subject may have been lost when the download was interrupted." Tygan said. "But I can at least tell you, that they do not nearly have enough of what they are looking for."

 _[Indeed, it looks like this data also includes a set of coordinates for another city.]_

"By the looks of it, somewhere in the Southern American region. Well, if we're going to figure this mystery out, best follow our only lead." He said.

 _[Right on that idea Central, move us to these coordinates and begin scanning the area before we send in a team.]_ He declared, handing Tygan the datapad. _[In the meantime, Tygan, begin examining that Seeker model and find out what you can that's useful, especially figuring out how we can use it.]_

"I figured that would be your next assignment, I've already instructed my team to begin researching it, I'll inform you when I have something."

He and Central left the laboratory and began making their way to the bridge, when he realized that he had to meet with Shen.

 _[Central, I'll join you later on the bridge, I have to go and take care of something.]_ He said.

"Time for your checkup sir?" He asked.

 _[If only it were that…]_ He muttered, before turning down at the staircase and heading down toward engineering while Central went upstairs to the bridge.

He floated down two flights of stairs before reaching the Engineering's level, and stared down at his great nemesis aboard the Avenger.

The door and it's locking mechanism.

 _[Alright door, let's not have any trouble today…]_ He muttered. _[I'm going to enter the passcode, and you're going to open. No ifs, ands, or buts… got it?]_

He lowered himself to the lock's level and moved his claw over the keyboard, before punching in the code to enter the level.

There were only a few areas aboard the ship that required access codes to enter during off hours, one of those was Engineering. Normally if there were personnel on duty the door was always open, however since it was night time and most of the staff were asleep, the door was locked.

It also was encoded so it required a biological signature to open, which normally the requirement was met simply because the person used their hands to enter the passcode. However, because his real body was still in a coma, and therefore unconscious, he was still trapped in the body of the Gremlin.

This meant that, despite having full access to the ship, he had to work around these normally minor issues as if they were massive obstacles.

Today was no exception as the passcode he entered was 'correct', but the door still refused to open.

 **Access Denied**

 _[Ugh… great…]_ He muttered in frustration.

" **Is something wrong Father?"** A soft voice asked behind him.

He turned around and saw behind him the tall figure of Bellona, watching him curiously behind her sunglasses with her hair wrapped tightly and bound in a bandana, while a second bandana covered her mouth.

 _[Bellona, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to remain in my quarters unless it's time for you to eat or your required for a mission.]_

" **I was told by the Mother to find out where you were, she is waiting in your chamber for you."** She hissed in her strange blending tone of Human and Viper vocals.

 _[Lovely…]_ He muttered.

Ever since Bellona was brought onto the Avenger, he has had to keep an eye on her movements and actions while interacting with the members of his crew. While the Viper turned 'mostly' Human was a very capable soldier on the battlefield, she and many of her sisters were very inadequately skilled when it came to dealing with everyday interactions with people.

Her first day that he left her alone while sending his report to the Council had almost ended in a disaster, at least for 'her'. Bellona had gone down to explore one of the many rooms and corridors, only to encounter one of the 'Maintenance' personnel. She had begun to talk to him, only to ask him if he would be willing to help her 'breed' after the war.

He really hated Amalie's methods of teaching her daughters for interacting with male humans.

He was just lucky that he caught her conversation before it got 'weird'.

 _[Well, since you are here, would you please open the door for me.]_ He said to her.

" **Of course, Father."** She said respectfully.

She stepped in front of him and entered the passcode, and seconds later the door opened instantly.

 _[Thank you, now please head upstairs and return to my room.]_ He ordered.

" **As you wish Father."** Bellona said, bowing to him and walking up the staircase while he headed toward Engineering.

His Gremlin's optics showed him the corridor as if he was viewing it through the lens of night vision, this was because the only lights on were a few strung outside Shen's work station, where he saw she and Rover were preparing for him. Upon seeing him she opened the door and welcomed him in.

"Commander, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up." She said while Rover looked him over.

 _[Let's just get this over with.]_ He muttered, floating over and landing on the large table. _[Sooner the better…]_

Shen nodded and pulled out her tool box as well as some spare memory chips recovered from the Sectopod they destroyed recently.

"Alright, I've wiped the data on these chips so we can add an additional five hundred Terabytes to your Gremlin's memory capacity." She said while Rover helped strap his Gremlin down. "With this you shouldn't need another call for a good month or two, provided you don't witness too many things at the same time…"

 _[Just get on with it Shen!]_ He complained. _[And… remember, don't stop talking alright?]_

"No problem Commander…" Shen said as Rover handed her a drill.

She powered up her drill and began to unscrew the top plate of his Gremlin, exposing the wires and motherboard, as well as everything else that made his Gremlin function.

"Alright… need to pull this wire out, and re-wire the circuitry so that we can add these memory chips… your optics will be offline for ten minutes max Commander." She said.

 _ **[Brrrzzst!]**_ Rover chirped.

 _[Thanks… but remember what I said, don't stop talking!]_ He repeated.

"You won't hear a moment of silence… alright…" Shen said as she bent close to him to look him in his optics. "In three… two… one…"

Suddenly everything went black as his optics were shut off, he was blind.

"So, like I was saying last time we did this Commander, Bentley that one guy you brought on board from Germany. He's a great guy and all, but I really think he should be put on working in the monitoring room for transmissions. The guy's good with a wrench and a welding torch, but not so much when it comes to keeping things in place where they're needed."

This was the most hated part of his new life while stuck in the Gremlin, the darkness. He hated the darkness, unable to see, unable to move, his Gremlin's sensors unable to work because he only had his vision to really rely on. Unlike the other Gremlins his had to sacrifice all its other programming besides the most basic of basic, to keep his mind active when his body suffered that coma.

So, when he lost his ability to see the first time Shen had to install new memory chips, he had a panic attack, thinking that he was back in the suit Advent had put him in.

The workaround to this issue, 'talking', Shen talked to him the entire time, and out of sheer respect for him, she kept his need for 'talk' and his panic attack to herself and Rover.

"But in any case, let me tell you, there was this guy down in maintenance, he tried so hard to catch a date with me." She said.

 _[Sounds like fun.]_

"Yea, well… this guy wasn't exactly someone who I would go out with. Not like I can, you keep me so busy that my breaks are really just me eating lunch while tinkering around in here."

 _[I wish I didn't have to but I need stuff worked on and you're my chief engineer.]_

"Yep, that's me, Chief Engineer Shen at your service!"

Suddenly he felt a jolt to his body.

 _[Ow! Watch it, that's my psionic chip!]_

"Sorry Commander, not a lot of space to work with in here…" Shen answered. "If I could just transfer you into a Mk. III, maybe this wouldn't be a problem but… well you got stuck with a Mk. I. At the time that was all we had."

 _[A lot has changed since those days… by the way I'm… sorry I kept Amalie and her Vipers a secret for this long.]_ He said. _[I bet there were a lot of surprised personnel?]_

"Surprised doesn't even sum up everyone's reaction." She said. "I mean… these are our enemies we were fighting, Vipers killed a lot of people over the years since you came back. And you come along and say that now we're friends with them out of nowhere? Needless to say, we were 'more' than a little surprised."

 _[I did what I had to do.]_ He responded. _[Amalie wanted freedom, she needed my help, and I needed her to get me out. I had to return the favor somehow…]_

"Well, you're not hearing any complaints from me Commander!" Shen said as he heard her grunting. "Annnnd… let there be light!"

Suddenly his optics turned on and he could see everything again.

 _[Much better, thank you Shen.]_ As she began to drill the top of his Gremlin's shell back into place.

"Yea well, I'm serious Commander… there isn't much more I can do for you at this pace." She said while Rover helped unplug his charging cable that had been plugged in without his knowledge. "I'm not lying when I say there isn't much space left in your Gremlin for memory cards. Even with the Advent Memory cards that we salvage from Sectopods and MECs, eventually your Gremlin is going to run out of room. And when that happens…"

 _[Thank you, Shen, I can fill in the blanks.]_ He said.

"Alright, but please I know you can't help it, but… try to wake up?" She said as she finished drilling, before leaning to look at him eye to optic. "I was extremely sad when I thought you were dead or captured. I kept thinking, 'what if I had built something better', or 'why didn't what I build do better'. And when I was told we had a chance to rescue you, I gave our team going in the best experimental gear I had crafted to get you out. But 'we' can't do what we do without you Commander, so please, don't go getting yourself killed or losing your memory while we still have a war to fight?"

 _[Noted Shen.]_ He chuckled while she undid his straps. _[Well if you'll excuse me, I've got to speak to Amalie about that canister of Meld she brought up. We need to figure out what to do with it.]_

"As to that Commander, I've been able to examine some of my father's old work regarding the Cybersuits, and I think I can perfect a smaller, more maneuverable version of what Gabriella is using, which while lacking in the firepower or protective capabilities can wield more specialized weapons." Shen said quickly, pulling out a blueprint to show him.

 _[Very well Shen, I'll see what I can do, but for now Tygan is working on that Seeker.]_ He said.

After going upstairs to his room, he began to discuss with Amalie about his future plans for the use of the Meld substance, where she told him that, thanks to their extensive tests and research, she could provide him the research to make enough genetic modifications to equal that of five genetic modifications to a single soldier with the single canister. So, at his command, he 'could' modify a fresh soldier, or even alter the modifications to an existing soldier, such as Pierce or even Bellona.

When the option was propose, Bellona had offered herself to be modified yet again.

" **It would be my honor to have my body altered to suit your needs~!"** She had said with a deep bow, which lifted her vast golden hair off the ground.

 _[As much as I'm 'sure' that is what Amalie told you to say…]_ He said, glaring at Amalie who rolled her eyes at him. _[There is very little to 'improve' upon your already extensive genetic modifications without, taking away what you have.]_

" **Then you will be using one of 'your' soldiers?"** Amalie asked politely.

 _[I don't know…]_

There was silence before Bellona spoke up. **"Father, have you determined where I am to sleep?"** She asked.

 _[I'm thinking of maybe putting you with the Gamma Raptor's squad, alongside Gabriella and Pierce. That would bring your squad up to five members, and I could send the Gamma Raptors back into the field again.]_

" **And I would get you all to myself again~!"** Amalie chirped in.

 _[Why do I think you only tolerate her because you told her to be my 'bodyguard'…]_ He muttered to himself.

Yes, the real reason why Bellona was on board the Avenger was because the Gene Viper was the most genetically modified soldier the Vipers had, having been the prime test subject for all their Meld experiments. She was insanely loyal to her Hierarch Mother, to the point where she obeyed any order without hesitation, and this loyalty extended to the 'Hierarch Father', which meant 'him'. This loyalty also meant that she would protect his life at all cost, so Amalie had been assigning him a 'bodyguard' when she gave him a soldier for XCOM.

In short, not only would Bellona do 'anything' he wanted, without question, she would even 'kill' anyone who Amalie might perceive as a threat.

" **I will not have any other girls trying to sway your heart."** Amalie hissed from his bed. **"I'm all you need."**

 _[I am the leader of a shadow organization, responsible for protecting mankind against alien enslavement. I am also the figure leader of the entire human resistance against Advent… and I have to deal with 'this'…]_ He muttered in disbelief. _[Why me?]_

" **Is something wrong Father?"** Bellona asked warmly.

Just as he was about to respond, he received a message from Central on the bridge.

[Commander, you may want to come check this out… we just received a tip from the resistance cell in South America.]

 _[On my way!]_ He said, floating out of his room and heading toward the bridge. _[Amalie, please join me on the bridge… and put some 'DECENT' clothes on!]_

(Bellona's PoV)

She watched her Hierarch Father leave the room and remained where she was, sitting on his bed.

" **Hierarch Mother, why does the Hierarch Father not mate with you, is he not interested?"** She asked curiously, noticing that her Mother had not attempted to conceive even though she had declared their species' Father.

" **Oh, 'we've' decided it is best to wait until this war has ended…"** Her Hierarch Mother hissed warmly, donning her armor and equipping her wrist mounted plasma blades. **"But do me a favor my daughter, keep your attempts to breed to a 'minimum'… we can't have children aboard this vessel yet."**

" **As you wish Hierarch."** She said respectfully. **"Mother, are you sure humans would find my body 'pleasing'? I think I am… 'ugly'… according to their words? I have noticed that everyone stares at me constantly."**

" **Trust me my daughter, they will learn to… 'accept' you with time."** Her Hierarch Mother hissed with a warm smile. **"For now, just remember what I've taught you, if you wish to tempt a male into mating you, remember that 'minimal clothes' are necessary. The more of your body you expose the more interested they will be, and nothing tempts a man more than a naked female offering herself~."**

" **But why does that not work with the Father?"** She asked.

At that her Hierarch Mother gave her a sly smile. **"He's just playing hard to get."** Before she slithered out of the room.

Bellona figured her Mother was telling the truth, after all, why would her Hierarch Mother mislead any of her daughters or sons?

(Commander's PoV)

 _[Alright give me a sit rep.]_

They had just landed and were going to scan initially the coordinates they had recovered from the data, but according to Central there was a hot tip that the resistance had just sent them.

"According to resistance forces, Advent recently dropped in a pair of large transports carrying what appeared to be two new models of Sectopods, unlike the previous models we've seen. It looks similar to the Advent model yet its carrying more equipment than anything else we know about." He said, bringing up the location on the hologlobe. "According to our intel they dropped in these two units within a nearby city that has been declared 'under renovation' by Advent. What they need two Sectopods for I don't know, but what they noted was that these two Sectopods were dropped in alongside what could only be described as a 'fleet' of smaller transports."

" **Looks like we've discovered the location of these new Advent Weapons systems then."** Amalie hissed calmly. **"Why else would they guard such models if they were merely 'test subjects' with such numbers? Just prior to me being rescued, I noted that at least fifty transports were removed from my command and placed under… 'someone's' command. I don't know who, and I didn't have time to find out before I had to leave my compound."**

Amalie then pointed at the hologlobe and closed in on the city, showing that it was densely packed with buildings.

" **This city has nothing of great value, at least to my knowledge. Why would they be deployed here? If this is simply to gather materials, it is an awfully large force for something as mundane as recycling materials."**

 _[You've got that right… look at this city, deploying our squad is going to be a nightmare. Sure, there's a lot of high cover we can take advantage of, but this is literally a shooting gallery. Even going room to room will be tricky, clearing them out one at a time is going to be impossible.]_ He turn turned to the buildings and noticed that many of them were so close to each other, that he could building hop without exposing his team to the open ground. _[Our best chance for this operation will be to move from building to building, until we locate the weapons systems. Once we do, we can use the high ground to eliminate major threats and move in to bring them down if needed. Sectopods aren't very mobile outside of open ground. If necessary they will destroy a lot of buildings when they move around, and if they do that they'll force us to ground floor.]_

" **You raise a valid point… with all the 'garbage' on the floor, maneuvering a Sectopod is impossible without destroying a few of these buildings. Yet they deployed at least two that we know of?"** He watched as Amalie held her chin, a trait she picked up to show her thinking. **"This makes no sense, why deploy Advent forces here, especially heavy units? A small squad of guerilla forces like yours will have a field day in this place. Even for recycling materials… this is an awfully big risk to bring so much for so little."**

"Either way, this tip is too hot for us to pass up, whatever it is these weapons systems are, we need to shut them down and figure out what they were for." Central said. "At your command sir, we can deploy a squad to take em out."

 _[Then let's get this party started, load up the Land Sharks!]_ He said. _[It's hunting time, and I intend to catch some big game!]_

" **That is assuming it doesn't 'catch you' first."** Amalie chuckled. **"So you're not planning to deploy 'both' of my daughters? I assumed after her performance, you'd deploy Bellona for all future missions."**

 _[Last time I checked Amalie, I was the 'commander'. So, I have final say in how XCOM performs its operations.]_ He said sternly.

Just as he left the Command Center he heard Amalie whisper into a private communicator to him, **"Among 'other things' hehehe…"**

 _[I really hate you so much…]_ He muttered.

(Hawkeye's PoV)

"This new paint job is super cool!" Puppy said enthusiastically.

"I still think you chose a poor color pallet." Sharptooth said as she sheathed her blade and grabbed her rifle.

"Says the girl who chose the boring 'camo' color scheme!" She barked back. "Really, long range combatant, camo color outfit, 'booooring'!"

He looked at Puppy's armor and mentally questioned her own color choice.

"At least its more practical than bright banana yellow with neon pink!" Sharptooth said. "I swear, you're going to be a massive target out there. And when Advent officers pick you to focus all their fire, don't blame me because you stand out."

"Personally, I like mine, cool dark blue with swamp green…" Eagleeye said.

"Yo Sharks, check me out~!" T-Rex shouted as he jumped in front of them and started flexing. "You all have front seats to the gun show~"

Hawkeye just chuckled at T-Rex and how he had painted his Titan Armor white with yellow stripes, making his armor look it had six pack abs and bulging muscles.

He himself had chosen to give his armor a light blue with dark purple look, since he wasn't very artistic.

As for Mercy…

" **Uh… is this 'good'?"** She asked as she slithered toward them.

He watched as she looked around to see that Mercy had painted…

"You painted a snake on your armor…" Puppy said. "You 'doodled' a 'snake'… onto your armor."

Mercy had indeed drawn what looked like a poorly drawn 'Vivian' their pet cobra, onto her armor.

It was something Puppy had convinced them and the other squads to do to help boost morale, an 'art contest' using some old paint they found lying around, to see which squad had the best artistic genius and skills. The winner got the losing squad's desert for that week, chocolate cake with real chocolate chips added, and authentic frosting.

" **I thought this was how we were supposed to draw?"** She hissed with a sheepish smile.

"Well at least you did 'something', unlike a certain 'silent monk' who didn't even bother trying!" Puppy said, pointing her thumb at Falcon who loaded his gun calmly, ignoring Puppy's look.

"Wasting time with something childish is a waste of our time." He said calmly. "If you have so much time to paint, you could practice your aim and actually hit your targets in the field."

"I'll have you know I scored a seventy percent accuracy in the last target range practice I did!" She barked.

"Yes, seventy percent accuracy in 'hitting' the targets that 'others' finished off for you." He countered back as they all left the armory for the landing pad.

As they reached the landing pad he noticed Mercy looking around, almost expectantly.

"Looking for someone?" He asked.

" **Bellona…"** She whispered. **"I expected her to be here… after her last performance, I assumed the Hierarch Father would put her on all missions."**

"Why do you call him 'Hierarch Father'?" He asked.

" **Well… the Hierarch Mother… when a 'mother' chooses her life mate… we refer to them as our 'Father'. The one who leads us, it's a position only a Mother can give to a male, and when it is given we are to become subservient to the Hierarch Father. Any order he gives us we are expected to follow."**

"Huh, I didn't think that was how it worked…" He said as they began to board the Skyranger. "I guess its reverse for your species, normally for us it would be, guy rules and girl gains power through guy, or something along those lines…"

" **Yes… but why isn't Bellona here?"**

"I guess he wants to give her a rest, perhaps?"

They took their places in the Skyranger, just as the Commander floated in, signaling the Skyranger to close its door. They began to take off and looked to the Commander for the usual mission briefing.

 _[Alright Sharks listen up, we've got a hot tip that whoever it was that all but wiped out the Gamma Raptors is using two weapons systems called 'E.C.1' and 'C.X.2', has deployed them in a densely packed but abandoned city center. They appear to be scouting it to recover materials but the fact that they deployed them with a fleet of forces leads me to believe that they are investing heavily into keeping these weapon's systems safe.]_

As he spoke the viewscreen behind him revealed several buildings in a city surrounding a square, filled with abandoned parked cars and remains.

[As the Commander stated, these two weapon systems are of great importance to Advent, according to 'Amalie', they were in secret development, not even the Advent High Council knew what was up with them. Your job is to go in there, locate these weapon systems, neutralize them however possible, and then eliminate any hostiles in the AO. Good luck!]

 _[We're going to be dropping in without SHIV for this mission, it's still undergoing some maintenance. So, don't expect our happy talking gun to take the heat for us. However, you've all been given a smoke grenade for this operation. With these buildings giving us height advantage, and since most of them can be reached by each other, we can easily abuse the height. But be careful, we have confirmed that they have deployed at least two Sectopods, and resistance contacts have also told us that they appear to be 'heavily' modified.]_

 _[If we find these Sectopods, we'll be a step closer to finding out who it was who destroyed the Gamma Raptors, and who it is we have to blame for hurting our family. So, let's get in there and find this guy, and make him pay!]_

"Good, I've been itching for some payback!" Puppy growled as her Gremlin, which she nicknamed 'Baby Bird' floated over her.

"Just remember kid, payback's one thing, but don't forget that this guy took out the Gamma Raptors." Eagleeye said as 'Little Bird' floated over him now.

" **Indeed… it is time we had our revenge!"** Mercy hissed confidently with a smile.

"Well, if my girlfriend says it's time for revenge, then I say it's time for revenge as well!" He said.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Mercy beam at him out of the corner of 'her' eye.

At that moment, the lights changed colors.

 _[Ready up sharks!]_

Hawkeye nodded and checked his firearm, making sure it was loaded. He checked his grenades and confirmed they were also ready to go. Alongside him Mercy was doing the same, examining her pouch of Toxic Darts. Puppy was checking her laser rifles' many recharging packs, and checking her attachments to make sure they were ready. Sharptooth and Falcon were ready, T-Rex was nodding his head as if he were listening to music, and Eagleye was examining his Gremlin's charges.

Then the lights changed colors again.

"Let's do this Sharks!" He said, standing up and getting ready for the drop, just as the Skyranger began to slow down.

Moments later the ramp opened up and ropes were lowered, instantly causing him the jump forward and grab a rope, sliding down alongside all of his fellow Sharks. He landed first and looked around the roof of a three-story building that they had been dropped on.

He looked up to see that it was going to sadly be a 'night time' operation,

(Commander's PoV)

From his high point, he could see the roof was cleared of anything resembling cover, on the one side of the building where the street was, it was dark and empty with only a few 'Advent Light Towers' established, revealing nothing but destroyed cars and abandoned city streets.

 _[Alright let's get this mission started…]_ He said, before giving orders to his Sharks.

They lined up against the wall to a door leading inside the building, and then Sharptooth was ordered to enter first.

"Got it Commander!" She said, before opening the door and then checking inside. "All clear!"

He flew higher and switched to the vision of his Sharks as they moved in one at a time, going through the hallway with careful and quiet steps. Along the way he noticed the many overturned furniture and destroyed vases, dusted walls and filthy carpet lining the floor.

"Ugh, this place stinks…" Puppy muttered. "What 'is' that smell… smells like something was dead and burned to crisp."

"You're telling me, even I can smell it, and I'm nose blind to 'you'!" Sharptooth muttered.

"I heard that…" Puppy muttered.

 _[Focus Sharks… scanners are detecting strange signals near you.]_ He said. _[Central, any signs of enemy signals?]_

[Negative as of yet Commander, scans show nothing moving near your positions…]

 _[We were tipped there was a 'fleet' of transports… this city isn't that massive, there should be a large contingent of 'Peacekeepers' or aliens here. So, where are they?]_

They continued to move through the building, finding a large hole which connected it and an adjacent building, allowing them to hop through and avoid going down to ground level or outside through the scaffolding. Then they stumbled upon something that caused them to pause.

"Alright, now what?" Eagleeye said as he watched them stare at a cracked floor in front of them.

"Please don't make me go first again…" Puppy muttered.

Moments after, he ordered her to run across the cracked floor.

"I swear it's like he's picking on me on purpose…" She muttered again. "Why am 'I' the one who always goes first?"

He watched her take a few steps forward, pause at the cracked floor, take a deep breath, and then ran as fast as she could.

Only for the floor to crack more and then give way under her.

"YAAAAAAAh…" She screamed as the floor broke away and crumbled under her, causing her to fall through.

"Puppy!" Everyone inside screamed, and he saw everyone surge to the edge to check her status, but he noticed something else before they did.

 _[Stop moving, now!]_

Everyone stopped and waited, while he sent them each an image of what Puppy was seeing.

There, right below her, with her holding very still so as not to disturb or alert her presence…

Was a Sectopod.

She had fallen through the floor and landed, two feet below the other Sharks, onto the head of a Sectopod's main frame.

"Hnnnnnnnng…" Puppy whined as she held her Lazer Rifle with baby fingers, even as 'Baby Bird' floated above her.

He expected the Sectopod to look up, move around, or issue a 'Red Alert' message, but instead it just sat there, as still as Puppy was despite her shaking.

 _[Hawkeye… slowly… and 'carefully'… pull Puppy up.]_ He ordered. _[Puppy… as quietly as physically possible, stand up…]_

Both agents nodded and did as he said, Puppy moving with the speed of a snail inching her body to a standing position, and Hawkeye waiting for her to stand up straight to help her up. But as she climbed up her knee slipped and she knocked a piece of pipe debris, which clunked and clanked on first the Sectopod's metal mainframe…

' **Pinnnng…'**

…then onto one of the joints along its leg…

' **Clang…'**

…and then finally banged onto a small glass mirror, which cracked and…

' **Tgnassssht!'**

Everyone held still like statues, including himself, as they stared at the Sectopod and waited for its reaction.

But still, the Sectopod remained as still as a statue.

 _[…]_

"Is… it… deactivated?" Puppy whispered so quietly that he barely heard her.

 _[Everyone move to Grids L-5 to L-12… then Mercy, take that vase, and toss it into the hole.]_ He ordered. _[Be ready to run…]_

At his command, the Sharks quietly went back several feet from the hole, and Mercy, as he instructed, picked up the vase and used her tail to launch it at the hole, where seconds later it crashed onto the Sectopod.

The sound of the vase shattering, with how quiet everyone had been and everything being, sounded like the explosion of an atomic bomb. He expected to hear stomping, the whirling of a machine waking up, for lights to turn on and light up the corridor and floors.

And yet still, the only thing he heard was silence, and all he saw was 'nothing'.

 _ **[Even I know something is wrong when a Sectopod does not respond to its most basic programming. That Sectopod should have gone into full alert when it is hit by anything.]**_ Amalie said to him over the coms.

 _[Sharptooth, move to the ledge and confirm the Sectopod is still there.]_ He ordered.

After a few seconds Sharptooth moved and leaned over the ledge. Sure enough, her vision showed that the Sectopod was still there, still as a statue, unmoving as when Puppy had fallen on top of it.

"Now that I get a better look at it, it doesn't seem to be the standard Sectopod Model." She said. "I haven't seen an Advent Sectopod with those kinds of attachments."

[I know a lot about these Sectopods, I can tell you that 'that's' not a standard model… looks like it's been modified with something'.] Shen said. [It looks like the Sectopod appears to be either offline, or out of power. In either case, that's not the Sectopod we're looking for.]

[Commander, I'm detecting two Signals in close proximity to your position, looks like they're outside.]

 _[Well, if its offline, then I guess we can use it to reach ground level…]_ He said. _[Alright Sharks, let's get down, carefully.]_

One by one they began to climb down using the Sectopod as a ladder, but each of them eyed it cautiously, training weapons on it until all of them were on the ground.

(Mercy's PoV)

"I don't' like the way this looks… it's giving me some bad vibes kids." T-Rex said, ready to give the Sectopod a point-blank blast of shredder fire if it so much as budged.

She nodded in agreement, keeping her newest dart, a special acid based on her own designed to melt armor and spread across an entire frame, at the ready should it decide to move.

" **Why does it not move?"** She hissed quietly. **"I remember Sectopods from my days in Advent… I have never seen one… offline like this before?"**

 _ **[Indeed my daughter, but based on the position, the fact that its covered in debris, and abandoned here in this city… I would guess that 'this' is why they deployed so many forces. I don't know 'who' would allow such technology to just… lie around for anyone to come along and steal… but clearly Advent discovered these leftovers and came to collect them before Resistance forces did. Hence the numerous transports spotted…]**_

 _[If that's true, then there are probably other Sectopods buried, if we can clear out Advent… Amalie's Vipers can come in and take these and reprogram them with Shen's and Tygan's help. This is a chance we can't pass up…]_

[It'll be nice to have a few of Advent's Sectopods working for 'us' instead of using us for target practice for a chance.] Central said.

 _[Yes, but how come these things are sitting here? Why wait until now to collect them?]_

 _ **[My guess is they were set to patrol and ensure the area was clear of resistance forces, and at some point, they powered down due to lack of power. If they were still connected to the Advent Network along with all of Advent's other mechanical units, the virus that infected them worked the same magic on them, forcing them to mill around attempting to obey its programming… until they ran out of energy.]**_

"That would explain the giant hole in the side of the building." Hawkeye said, getting down and pointing at the back of the building, where sure enough, a Sectopod sized hole could be seen.

"You know… they don't look so bad offline." Puppy muttered as she looked at it with Baby Bird.

"Yea, wait till they're shooting at you again, you'll sing a different tune." Eagleeye whispered.

"If you're all done talking about what you can see… you'll notice what you are 'not' seeing…" Falcon said quietly from the entrance to the street.

Mercy and the other Sharks walked over to the entrance and took up positions, but she failed to notice whatever it was that Falcon was looking at. To her it looked like an abandoned pre-Advent city, burned cars and destroyed ruins. Occasionally she saw a lamppost and maybe some trash strewn around, but otherwise she saw nothing.

"I see nothing." Hawkeye said.

"That's the point… where is 'Advent'?" Falcon said.

"Yea, Psychomantis has a point… if these things are so important, where are the patrols… I doubt we landed in the one section of this city with an abandoned Sectopod that Advent just 'happened' to haven't reached yet." Puppy said quietly.

 _[In any case Sharks, the signal we're detecting is further down that street, let's move in and see if we can't find our two weapon's systems.]_

With that he gave them orders to move out of the building and head into the street.

She moved with caution, keeping her rifle at the ready and looking every direction. With each moment, she expected to see a patrol, or hear the clanking and stomping of a Sectopod, or hear a transport fly pass overhead. Yet still, nothing was heard.

 _[Signal is dead ahead, you should be seeing something…]_ The Commander said.

They looked ahead and saw the remains of a town square, in the center was the remains of a statue, of what she didn't know, but she saw nothing that looked like a weapon's system'.

 _[Alright this looks odd, time to split up… Mercy, Hawkeye, Sharptooth, move to grids K-7, P-15, and D-22… take up positions and ready long-range weapons cover. Everyone else, move forward slowly.]_

She moved to where she was ordered, positioned near a low wall and a destroyed car, on the other side of the street Hawkeye took a similar position, and Sharptooth took cover behind a broken-down fountain. Meanwhile, T-Rex, Puppy, Eagleye and Falcon moved forward with weapons ready and careful steps. They were then told to split up and went in pairs around the statue, and at the same time swung around the corners with weapons readied…

Only for them to show them an image through her visor, of a pair of small beacons.

"What the…" Puppy muttered, before the Commander said…

 _[It's a trap…]_

(Commander's PoV)

He realized it only too late, the second his agents saw the beacons which were sending out false signals, he knew that he had been lured out and away from the buildings into a trap. He had completely forgotten the situation report that Central and Amalie and even he had gone over about the advantage his Sharks would have by remaining in the building. The abandoned, depowered Sectopod had washed it out and the signals had driven him away.

And now he paid the price as seconds later, two thunderous crashes of debris sounded in the night air, and two Advent Sectopods ran forward.

They were enormous, even by Advent's standard, both Sectopods were enormous. Standing twice as tall as a normal Advent Sectopod did, these two Sectopods were heavily modified with attachments along the main body.

Both Sectopods wielded four miniature plasma weapons, acting as Anti-Personnel weapons, one had a plasma cannon on its underbelly and boasted a standard Advent Main Beam Gun. It also had two small cylinders that glowed blue attached to its back, radiating energy in small amounts and had several aiming lasers pointing in multiple directions.

The other Sectopod had two similar cylinders strapped to its back, but unlike the other had a long-range plasma gun designed for precision artillery shots at long range. Where the standard Advent Sectopod had a main gun, it had been modified to act as a cargo container, for what though he didn't know.

 **[TERMINAAAAAAAAAAAATE!]** One Sectopod yelled.

 **[OBLITERAAAAAAAAAAAATE!]** The other Sectopod yelled.

Their voices were familiar.

He expected them to begin firing, but instead both Sectopods simply charged at his squad's separated forces, one going for those investigating the beacons, the other heading for his long-range support.

 _[Spread out!]_ He ordered quickly, giving them each a position to run to while also ensuring they could support one another.

Instantly his forces split up and moved to their designated positions, Puppy moving the slowest and barely avoiding being trampled by one of the Sectopod's legs.

 **[OBLITERATE, OBLITERATE!]** It yelled, turning at her and trying to smash her with one of its feet.

Meanwhile he saw that the other one, yelling **[TERMINATE, TERMINATE!]** was attempting to ram its low profiled main body at Hawkeye, who just ducked in time as he was unable to jump out of the way, and avoided being smashed to a pulp.

 _[What kind of weapon's system is this…?]_ He thought, but gave orders to begin firing at the two Sectopods.

Puppy was the first to open fire, and she was ordered to target the Sectopod's main chassis. As she fired her laser rifle, Falcon opened up with a plasma shot on the same side, and combined together struck the Sectopod, causing it to shake and stumble.

 **[O… BLIT…ERATE!]** It yelled, before it stumbled forward two steps, and collapsed to the ground, landing on its underbelly, only supported by the legs which were motionless and its primary cannon.

Meanwhile the precision shots of Mercy, Hawkeeye and Sharptooth had a similar response, and he watched as 'it' was struck in the back just below the cylinders.

 **[TER… MIN…AAAAAATE~!]** It also screamed defiantly, before it stumbled and fell to the ground.

There was silence as everyone stared at the Sectopods.

"That's it? I was expecting something… stronger?" Puppy muttered.

"Those were the weapon's systems we were told were tested and perfected by Advent in the greatest of secrecy?" Sharptooth said in disbelief.

" **Yes… that was hardly a fight… we barely dented them and they went down?"** Mercy said quietly.

"Well, I'll happily take a kill count on a dumb and stupid Sectopod instead of dodging bullets from a 'smart' one." Puppy said cheerfully.

"You and me both sista!" T-Rex shouted, giving her a high five.

[Well in any case, job's done… now all we have to do is clear out the rest of Advent's forces… but I'm not picking anything up noticeable.] Central said.

 _ **[If those were AI… why would Advent use such… 'primitive' thinking and planning algoritms… and then install them into these Sectopods?]**_ Amalie said.

 _[Easier to control, perhaps that's their method of getting around the Virus? The dumber the AI, the easier it is to control and make obey?]_ He replied.

[I suppose anything is possible… its either the AI is supremely intelligent… or supremely stupid… never considered that idea to be honest.] Shen said.

With that done he began to look around and plan his next move, guessing that Advent Patrols might hear the carnage and come running, he began to give orders to his Sharks to take up positions in the buildings and climb to higher levels…

When the Sectopods stood up.

"Yo, they getting back up!" T-Rex yelled, reacting fastest and unloading his Plasma Rounds into a barrage, trying to shred their armor.

Instead all the rounds were absorbed by a blue energy net surrounding the Sectopods.

 _[Heads up, they're back for…]_ He yelled, but once again the Sectopods surprised him as they began running 'away' _[…more?]_

"Uh, Advent Sectopods are not known for running away Commander." Hawkeye said.

"So, what do we do, just let em go?" Puppy yelled.

 _[After them, we can't let them get away.]_ He ordered. _[Something is going on, and we need those two Sectopods to find out. Don't let em escape!]_

So the Sharks ran after the Sectopods, and he followed along high above. It wasn't hard to figure out where the Sectopods were going, they left a trail of destruction as they ran through the streets. At some point they seemed to have wobbled or revealed the damage they suffered, as they turned and ran through some of the abandoned buildings, burying the entrances in rubble and collapsing any way to get up to higher levels.

"I can't… believe… Sectopods… can move this fast!" Puppy said as she panted.

"They must be new models, the standard models never moved this fast before ever!" T-Rex said as he knelt down and lifted Puppy and had her hold onto him 'piggyback' style so she could keep up.

He was surprised too, his Sharks were fast yes, but they had just traversed seven blocks worth of streets, and still the Sectopods were moving faster than his operatives could manage.

At one point during the chase his Sharks caught the trailing edge of one of the Sectopods, and watched as it ran right 'through' another building, collapsing it entirely and destroying the two buildings next to it.

[I've heard of drunk driving but these things are making that look like something a sober man would do.] Central commented.

 _ **[If this is the AI the Elders and the Advent High Council were told to keep secret, I can see why… they are… quite 'primitive'? Or was it… stupid? I don't know exact word for this behavior…]**_

 _[Perhaps we did more damage than we realize.]_ He thought, but something was off, they didn't look that damaged when he saw them running away.

Finally, he checked his scans and saw that they were about to reach a dead end. The street they were rounding ended in steel framed buildings, unlike the other buildings around him that weren't made completely of steel.

 _[They're at a dead end, unless they turn around there is no way out of there!] He said._

Sure enough, he and his Sharks rounded the corner, and watched as the Sectopods seemed to stare in confusion at the buildings in front and on either side.

He ordered his Sharks forward, but noticed too late that there were no abandoned cars, no cover for them to use. Only by entering the buildings could he find any cover.

"We got them now!" Hawkeye said.

At his voice, the Sectopods turned around and looked at them.

And then the glass windows on either side of the street shattered, and row upon row of MEC units marched out in unison. From the higher levels, similar windows shattered and floating mechanized units appeared in rows, each wielding a spotlight and training plasma guns on them. Behind the Sectopods appeared wheeled units, similar in design to what looked like a SHIV, each wielding plasma weapons and aiming lasers, taking up flanking positions and pointing at the Sharks.

He heard stomping and turned to see three Sectopods march from hiding places inside the abandoned buildings, each wielding what looked like missile launchers on their backs and each escorted by two MEC units.

"E…xactly… where 'they' want 'us'…" Puppy squeaked in fear.

 _[We didn't follow them here… we were 'herded' here!]_ He declared.

"What was your first clue?" Falcon asked, but because he always spoke in the same tone since he first became a Psi operative, he wasn't sure if Falcon was being 'sarcastic' or not.


	7. Chapter 6

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **So, you want to hear my opinion on the Elders… do you?"** She hissed while twirling her plasma pistol. **"I have two words that best describe my 'opinion' on them…"**

She stopped twirling and flung it up into a firing position.

" **Heeeshtest Moostesht… which 'roughly' translates to… Fuckers Mother…"**

She glared at you then resumed twirling her pistol with one finger.

" **I hate them… every fiber of me… hates them… and what they did to my '** _ **friend**_ **' only adds to my hatred for them."**

" **To think they would turn the greatest advantage we had against them… to think they would do 'that' to my** _ **'friend'**_ **… what they did to him…"**

She hissed furiously, revealing her fangs dripping in venom, which fell to the floor and released a tiny cloud of toxins.

" **A thousand years swimming in 'acid'… while being burned alive… as their bodies are feasted upon by fire ants… is not 'nearly' enough punishment for them!"**

=Chapter 6, The Plan=

(The Commander's PoV)

'How did this situation dissolve so quickly?', was the question he was asking himself as he stared down at the lines of MEC units aiming at his Sharks, not counting the 'mini tanks' as he dubbed them, having flanked his sharks and aiming multiple laser sights on them, and the strange 'flying' units that were shining spotlights and reading weapons as well, or the three Sectopods that had stepped in behind to cut off whatever semblance of retreat he might have had.

And of course, that did not count the two Major Sectopods that were watching the small group.

He tried to come up with some counter plan to the situation, but not even two seconds into formulating a plan, did he suddenly notice the three Sectopods aim at him and launch a small salvo of AA missiles directly at him.

He barely had enough time to dodge them before flying down to ground level to avoid more locking onto him. Instantly he flew in the middle of his Sharks who were aiming their weapons in whatever direction they could cover.

[Commander, tell me you have a Plan B!] Central said.

 _[I'm trying Central… they aren't exactly giving me any options…]_ He replied, looking through the eyes of his seven operatives to learn all he could. _[We're completely surrounded from all directions besides down, they even have me stuck on lock down with those missiles! I can't even see the field now without using my operative's perspectives.]_

"Well… hope you're enjoying the view…" Puppy muttered nervously, trying to keep her hands steady while the Sectopods watched her.

For several seconds, he waited for plasma fire to occur, yet only silence reigned as all the mechanical units simply aimed and waited.

Then he watched through Hawkeye's Perspective as he watched the two Sectopods marched forward two steps.

 **[Although he has learned from countless 'centuries' worth of battles… the Commander of XCOM seems to have 'forgotten'… the first rule of warfare… 'Never underestimate your opponent'!]** One Sectopod declared in a calm yet sarcastic tone.

 **[Terminate… Obliterate… the probability of you falling for that… was only a minor… 12.7 percent chance of success.]** The second Sectopod declared, moving its frame up and down as if it were chuckling.

He watched both Sectopods, unable to figure out if they were being manipulated externally, or if they were AI's. _[Who the hell are you?]_

 **[We are… as we told you who we are…]** The first Sectopod declared proudly. **[I am E.C. 1! I am a strategical database for all battlefield formats great and small, my function is to plan all operations in advance based on all information I have gathered, and coordinate my overall strategy for any operation with my partner unit.]**

The second Sectopod stepped forward to address them now. **[This unit's designation… C.X. 2.]** It said. **[My function… execute all tactical planning and implement tactical maneuvers based on all tactical information stored within my database, in conjunction with E.C. 1's strategies.]**

 **[Indeed, according to the data we had on you, and based on the terrain reconnaissance you would have performed… we estimated that with an 87.15 percent chance of success, that you would use the buildings to your advantage, remaining safe and allowing you to pick off our vast force without revealing your much smaller numbers, while providing you ample cover and protection. To that end we determined the best course of action would be to draw you out with a very miniscule display of numbers, and once we had lured you all to ground level, drive you away from the easily accessible buildings by 'destroying' your entryways into them.]**

 **[The probability of a successful maneuver occurring was within a 95.87 percent, with a 4.13 percent chance for deviation… Your deviation to this course of action… was predicted with a 'zero' percent chance of change.]**

 **[Quite so, but we knew that numbers 'alone' would not be enough to tempt you, so we drew you out using signals that would get your attention, far enough away from the buildings that you would be 'forced' to leave to investigate. Upon confirming that all your squad were visible, we revealed ourselves to sow small chaos and give you a false sense of security and superiority, as well as give you eyes on your primary objective. Once done… all we had to do was ensure you followed us to this location, destroying any alternative path that you might use to deviate from the course we wanted you to take.]**

 **[The probability of this plan failing was a 16.42 percent chance with additional factors given, including but not limited to… weather variation, squad number limitations, field unit composition, weapon type variation, additional tactical knowledge previously unknown to us, and additional weaponry unknown to us… Removing those factors reduced the probability of this plan failing to… 6.05 percent chance, with the only factor being… you realizing our strategy… Without this factor, the probability of this plan failing is… '0' percent.]**

He simply stared at the Sectopods, unable to believe that these two 'machines' had predicted his original strategy to a note. Not only that, but conceived of every possible scenario, played out every possible strategy, and had counter contingency plans.

 _[Impossible…]_ He muttered openly. _[You could not have planned this far… we barely heard about this tip… four hours ago! You couldn't have planned this much in such a small span of time!]_

 **[Oh, that is where you are wrong… once again.]** E.C. 1 declared, taking a step forward to intimidate them. **[We have been planning this for quite a while… you see, the Elders are frustrated with your 'escape'… and are tired with the 'delay' to their plan. The 'Grand Design' must continue, and for that, they need 'you'. So, to that end, they have gifted 'us' with the knowledge, and 'power' to capture you. Our task is a simple one… bring you once more to them, by any means necessary!]**

[These guys really like to talk.] Central muttered.

 _ **[Perhaps Central, but something is wrong with this picture, why are they 'talking' and not 'acting'?]**_ Amalie interjected. _**[I may have talked about acting while 'pretending' to be their slave, but I certainly 'acted' when I had the chance.]**_

 _[She's right… they have us right where they want us, surrounded and no way out, completely at their mercy…]_ He said, noticing how they Mechanical Units did not move once the entire time, maintaining their circle and keeping the Sharks stuck. _[So, what are they waiting for? Demands?]_

"I don't know Commander, but if you have a plan… I'm all ears…" Sharptooth whispered.

The first Sectopod took step forward and moved its main body closer to the group, forcing them all to aim at it. **[Well as much 'fun' as this has been… we have a job to do… collect you and return you to the Elders… but there's a problem. You were caught too easily, while our plan was carried out precisely as planned…]**

 **[The probability of you being the Commander, based on your current performance is only… 22.89 percent.]**

 **[Quite so… we know based on our intel on you, that your mind and body are currently split… your mind residing inside of a machine called a 'Gremlin'… but as we can see… there are 'three' Gremlins. We could 'theoretically' take all three and determine which has your mind… but…]**

 **[There is a 72.45 percent probability that you may have changed Gremlins, based on this probability, we cannot take any of these machines. There is also a 74.56 percent chance that you are using this Gremlin merely to 'communicate', your mind reverting from the Gremlin and returning to your body.]**

 _[You have got to be kidding me…]_ He muttered to Central. _[The reason why they haven't done anything is because they think I may have transferred Gremlins or be using a proxy Gremlin to communicate?]_

[I say take it as a compliment, they give you that much credit.] Central replied.

 _ **[In any case my friend, that deception won't last long, you need to use it while you can!]**_

 **[So… just to be sure 'you' are who we believe you are…]** E.C. 1 said, turning to C.X. 2.

C.X. 2 stepped back toward the building behind it, and raised a large antenna from its main body.

[Commander, we're getting som… -bzzztz- can… me?]

 _[Central?]_ He said over their coms. _[Central, Amalie… Avenger come in! Can anyone read me?!]_

 **[There… now that we have temporarily severed your communications… we can begin our 'test' against you.]** E.C. 1 declared, stepping forward and circling his group, aiming his four AP plasma cannons at his sharks, while they continued to aim at him. **[Since we do not wish to anger the Elders with failure… we will determine if you are who we 'believe' you are. We will give you a 'chance' to escape… we will establish a perimeter in this city, and your task is to escape.]**

The Sectopod paused in its circling to aim its front at them.

 **[But just so that the playing field is 'fair'… we will give you… 'temporary' access to our unit's information… just so you know what it is you are going to deal with.]**

 _[And why pray tell, would you be so gracious as to allow that knowledge?]_ He yelled. _[You might as well be handing me victory keys if I know what I'm fighting!]_

Silence followed as everyone waited the AI's answer, the Sharks keeping their trigger fingers ready, weapons ready to fire at the slightest command, yet the Sectopod merely stood still.

 **[Tell me C.X. 2, what is the probability of our failure to capture the Commander, if we allowed him to learn the information I am 'giving' him?]**

 **[Based on tactical data, strategic knowledge, and all information pertaining to the current situation, the probability of the Commander's squad of seven including himself escaping this city without the information is 3.22 percent likely.]** C.X. 2 answered. **[The probability of him escaping with the information offered… is 6.47 percent likely.]**

 **[There you go Commander; your odds of escaping are 'doubled' if you accept this generous offer.]** E.C. 1 said. **[But, by all means… refuse… make it harder on yourself… whether you take it or not matters not. I will allow you to 'hack' into my database to gain the knowledge you wish… but don't try anything foolish… you never know what will happen.]**

He weighed his options, these AI weren't fooling around, they were giving him and his Sharks a chance to escape, they were even offering them the information they would need to 'survive' this encounter for free. He could refuse, thinking maybe it's a trick, but what choices did he have? They were still surrounded, the AI's had home field advantage, and so far, they had not made a single mistake.

Perhaps this was part of their plan as well, to gather even 'more' information on him and the Sharks.

But then again… looking around, these two AI didn't seem to 'need' anymore information to make him look like a fool.

 _[Eagleeye, hack into him… let's see what we can take…]_ He ordered.

"I hope you are right about this sir." Eagleeye muttered, before giving the hand gesture to his 'little bird' to hack into the Sectopod.

 _[Not like we have a choice…]_

The Gremling flew forward and began hacking into the Sectopod, and seconds later it broke through the entry barrier and he was given access.

ACCESS GRANTED

He looked at what he could do, there were three options given based on what the Gremlin had found.

Option 1) Access Mecha-Unit Data Files – 100% - Risk = None (Gain information on all Mecha Units)

Option 2) Access Elder's Main Base Location – 9% - Risk = Unknown (Locate the Elder's Main Base for a final assault)

Option 3) Self Destruct all Advent Mecha Units – 8% - Risk = Unknown (Remove all mechanical Advent Units permanently)

 _[No way… they know where the Elders are?!]_ He said to them.

"If we had that information… we could end the war instantly!" Sharptooth muttered.

"Look at that third option, we could shut down Advent's mechanical units permanently, forget about your virus that is 'end game' material!" Hawkeye whispered.

"We should take the risk man, so what if its less than ten, think about it, we get that data, we win either way!" T-Rex whispered as well.

" **I don't know… it looks like good idea… but that… 'unknown' risk… is it worth it?"** Mercy hissed nervously. **"I played poker once… those do not look like good odds to me…"**

He heard what they were saying, the chances were low, the risk was high, but if they got that knowledge without the AI's knowing.

They could end this war once and for all.

He had a chance to gain something he had 'never' had before, an 'end game' card… all it would take, was a roll of the dice.

But then he looked at the MEC units, the mini tanks, the floating air drones, the three AA Sectopods, and of course… the two AI Sectopods E.C. 1 and C.X 2.

 _[Download the Mecha data files, don't take the risk…]_ He ordered.

"What, but we have a chance to…" Falcon started whispering.

 _[Do it… I can't take the risk… those odds are too high…]_ He ordered again. _[We'll find them eventually… live today, fight tomorrow.]_

"Alright… downloading now."

The Gremlin downloaded the data successfully and pulled away, returning to Eagleeye and transmitting him what he found.

 **[Good choice… if you had tried anything else…]** E.C. 1 said with a chuckle. **[Well… let's just say… you would have failed regardless, and the outcome… 'your deaths'.]**

He ignored the AI and examined the data, trying to learn as fast as he could.

( Advent MEC ) Health = Medium, Armor = Minimal, role = All Purpose Frontline Drone.

( Advent AA Sectopod ) Health = Massive, Armor = Large, role = Mobile Anti Air Tank

( Advent Air Drone ) Health = Minimal, Armor = None, Role = Aerial Scout and Skirmish Drone

( Advent MHW Tank ) Health = Minimal, Armor = Massive, Role = Frontline Multi-purpose Tank Drone

' _They have a mobile heavy weapon's tank capable of utilizing multiple weapon classes for any role needed, an aerial scout drone designed to locate and skirmish with enemy forces, and a Sectopod designed solely for the purpose of shooting down aerial units.'_ He thought quickly, analyzing each unit's capabilities. _'The aerial drone can't take a hit but has great evasion programing, the AA Sectopods can't shoot anything besides air units so they are helpless without supporting units to deal with ground threats, and the tanks have massive armor to protect themselves but any shot that gets through it will cripple the thing.'_

 _[These units are far more specialized than anything Advent has used in the past… these things are designed to work in unison… with great coordination… so 'this' is how they wiped out the South African resistance.]_

 **[Now that you have the intel you need, we can 'begin'…]** E.C. 1 declared, and simultaneously all the Mech units began to disperse, with each of the Sectopods moving off with their supporting units. **[Our units will deploy throughout the city, and attempt to hunt you down… myself included… if you attempt to call in your 'aerial dropship' to evacuate, it 'will' be shot down… There are twenty AA Sectopod Walkers stationed, and they each have a range of half a mile. And finally, if either myself or my partner AI see you… we 'will' destroy you.]**

E.C. 1 took five steps back toward C.X. 2, who remained just as stationary as before, watching him and his squad the entire time, still protected by fifteen Advent MHW Tanks.

 **[I will give you a five minutes head start to hide from us, during which time our forces will not attack you, but they will make sure to keep track of your location for C.X. 2's long range artillery cannon, once that time frame is up they will shoot to kill… and before you think about it, should you open fire on any of our forces before the time limit expires… our 'hunt' will begin instantly. I suggest you start running 'now'.]**

He did not waste a second longer, he gave his Sharks the order to flee, and a second later they all broke into a run, sprinting away from the Sectopod AIs.

(Amalie's PoV)

"Reestablish connection to the Commander!" Central yelled, ignoring Netra who quietly slipped into the command center with a tray, avoiding getting in anyone's way.

"I can't get a signal through, whatever they are doing to jam our signals is still interfering with us!" A deck hand yelled.

"Well keep trying!" He yelled. "Shen, do you have anything?"

"Nothing, all of my alternative signals are being jammed!" She replied, ignoring Netra who slithered past her back, carefully avoiding spilling the tray's contents. "I can't get anything through, nothing, not even LOS transmission is getting through the jamming."

She meanwhile, took the tray and calmly sipped the tea brought to her.

"Well find something that does, we can't leave them down there alone!" Central yelled. "I want the Skyranger ready to pull them out the instant we can re-establish contact."

She glanced at Central before taking another sip.

" **You really should relax Central."** She muttered quietly.

"Maybe you can be calm while sipping tea, but that's our Commander down there trapped with seven of our operatives, and we just lost contact with them." Central snarled.

She finished her cup before having Netra pour her another. **"He also happens to be my species' named Hierarch Father, our 'leader'… believe me, I am just as worried as you."** She replied calmly. **"However, I doubt they blocked our communications just to kill him or take him captive, if they wanted to do that, they would have done it sooner. My guess… is that they have something 'private' to talk to him about. And they don't want us to interfere."**

She smirked as he ignored her and resumed running around the command center, trying desperately to reconnect with the Mission Operatives and her friend. Ten minutes later however, they finally managed to make contact again.

"I've got the Commander's signal again." A Deck hand yelled.

"Patch him in." Central yelled.

The screen on the main viewer changed to a picture of him floating alongside the other sharks at ground level running down an abandoned street.

"Commander, what's going on, we're getting ready to send the Sky…"

 _[Do not send the Skyranger Central, repeat, do NOT send the Skyranger.]_

At that she looked up and payed close attention to what was going on.

 _[We're facing the pair of AI generals that destroyed the South African resistance cell, and they've surrounded the city and filled it with military drones. We're trapped within a net of AA Sectopods that will shoot down the Skyranger if it so much as appears for a second. These guys are playing for keeps here Central, they challenged me to a game of hide and seek, only the seeker gets to kill, I need a way out of here!]_

"Understood we'll scan and see what we can find out." He said.

While the humans were busy doing what Central said they'd do, she paid close attention to what her 'friend' told them.

' _ **Surrounded, trapped… yet allowed to run?'**_ She thought. _**'That's not the way Advent works… if the Elders wanted him, which they do… why not just kill off his forces and take the Gremlin? Surely, they know that even if it's not his body, they can use the Gremlin which houses his mind to locate the body? Why run the risk of letting him escape… that makes no sense?'**_

' _ **No… even if they knew that 'one' of the Gremlins was his… they can't possibly be that naïve or cautious… as to not bother capturing them. Even if the Elders would be upset, some progress is better than none, and showing they have his mind is better than risking letting him escape and have nothing.'**_ She thought, placing her hand on her cheek and 'thinking'. _**'If that's the case… what is the goal, what is their plan?'**_

' _ **Determine if he is who they believe he appears to be… that makes no sense, cutting off our communications alone would have sufficed, once that was done and they knew he was still actively talking without any information from 'us' they could have simply killed off his operatives and captured the Gremlins, eliminate the useless ones, and then locate his body by tracking the Psionic Chip's wavelength from the Gremlin to his body. As I was 'instructed' to do should I capture his mind again… but they did not do that… so… what is the goal?'**_

She thought about this as she watched her friend on the viewscreen, avoiding squads of Advent MEC units.

(Hawkeye's PoV)

 _[Turn left here!]_ The Commander ordered as they bumped into another squad of three Advent MEC units, all of them watching their approach but not pulling out their weapons.

So, they did as he ordered, and turned left to avoid the squad, running down another abandoned street. But not one full minute passed before they encountered yet 'another' squad of MEC's.

 _[Right, down this alley!]_ He ordered now, giving them a vision of what Mercy had seen through her helmet lens, an empty alleyway that intersected their street at the halfway point and lead to another street.

So, they all ran toward that alleyway, once more avoiding the MECs and running down the alleyway. However, instead of safety they found they were being watched the entire time by two Aerial Drones which hovered above them, each shining a spotlight and making sure they could not hide from them.

"These guys can't have every single street and alley covered, can they?" He yelled angrily as they left the alley and went right, per the Commander's orders.

They ran down the street and reached a crossroad, and as if to mock what he just said and prove him wrong, they found an Advent AA Sectopod protected by two MEC's and an Advent MHW Tank Drone turn just in time to watch them approach.

"Oh my god… who knew there were so many Advent Units?" Puppy complained as they turned left and ran away.

 _[This isn't about numbers Puppy, its tactics, these guys are master strategists!]_ The Commander said. _[They've positioned the absolute minimal number of forces necessary to pin us down while covering the most area to prevent us from hiding!]_

" **How much time is left?"** Mercy hissed nervously as they continued to run, watched 'yet again' by a nearby floating Aerial Drone which was guarding the entrance to an alleyway.

 _[Fifty seconds!]_

"We're never going to lose these guys!" Sharptooth yelled as they ran forward, only to be spotted by an Aerial Drone and an MHW Tank Drone.

This was true, they've been running down street after street, down every alleyway, and turning every corner, only to see that they were constantly being watched no matter which way they went.

"Commander, we're running out of options!" He yelled as they ran right, per his order, only to find that upon reaching another crossroad, was another AA Sectopod and MHW Tank Drone.

Ten seconds later he continued to order them forward, but now he gave them precise positions to go to.

 _[Sharptooth G-15, Puppy L-15, Hawkeye J-15, T-Rex K-15, Falcon P-15, Eagleeye B-15, Mercy D-15!]_ He ordered with seventeen seconds left.

As one they separated to their positions, watched on either end of the street by MEC Units or the AA Sectopod.

 _[Smoke Grenade your positions now!]_ He ordered, following him and acting like Puppy's and Eagleeye's Gremlins by hovering just above him.

Without waiting he grabbed his smoke grenade, popped and tossed it at his feet, and watched as the smoke erupted and spread around him.

 _[EVERYONE TO A-6, NOW!]_ He ordered with 5 seconds left.

Without knowing if the other Sharks were behind him or if the ones nearest the called position were safe, he ran to that location, following the highlighted path his helmet visor showed. A split second later he heard a door smash open and ran through right after to find Eagleeye had kicked a door down and was now hiding alongside Mercy out of sight.

Soon after the other Sharks surged in and Puppy quickly closed the door, per the Commander's orders.

 _[Everyone stay quiet…]_ He ordered now, and as one they held their breaths, trying to catch them 'quietly' while waiting to see if their deception worked.

The time limit had expired just as the door closed, and immediately they could hear mechanical steps marching and the whirling sounds of hover pads above. A spotlight flew over the door and shone through the crack in the base of the door, but it passed by without waiting.

They gasped for breath after that and panted.

They'd been running nonstop for five full minutes, dashing at max speed to try and avoid being spotted.

Yet everywhere they turned, no matter how 'erratic' the Commander's path, no matter what direction they went, there was 'always' another squad of Advent units watching and in visual range of them.

"Commander… why wait till now?" Puppy muttered. "Why not… do that before… why wait until barely ten seconds left to do that trick?"

 _[Because… I didn't think about that till now, until then I was trying to find a gap in their surveillance net.]_ He said. _[We barely escaped with that trick, but that trick cost us 'all' of our smoke grenades.]_

"Okay, but why waste all of our smoke grenades, why not just use one or two to cover our entrance?"

 _[Because Hawkeye, that would show them precisely where we are. This way, they can't tell one hundred percent which set of buildings we slipped into.]_ He said, turning to look at him. _[This won't fool them long… and I need time to come up with a plan.]_

"Fat lotta good that's done so far…" Sharptooth muttered. "They seem to be reading us like a book."

 _[Maybe… but it's all we 'can' do right now Sharptooth.]_ Ignoring her real message.

(Commander's PoV)

[Commander, we just did a scan, and you were right… they have you completely surrounded.] They all heard Central say over the coms. [Twenty Advent Sectopods that we can detect are stationed in two layer rings, each with a large attack radius, and each covering any gap in their AA net. The Skyranger can't get in there as long as those walking garbage cans are still active and moving around.]

 _[Wonderful, Shen, I'm sending you a detailed schematic on every single unit they've got deployed here, I want to know how much it would take to bring these bastards down!]_

[Already on it sir!] Shen declared. [In the meantime, I can give you a general location of where the big walkers are, so you can avoid them. As for the little MEC units, I'd suggest getting to the second level before they spot you.]

[It won't take them long to figure out you ditched them by hiding in the buildings sir, and it will take them even less time to figure out set of buildings you are hiding in, you need to get a move on before then!]

Moments after he updated his map and instantly noticed that one of the AI Sectopods was right on top of them.

 _[Everyone quiet!]_ He said.

They did so, and readied weapons just in case.

Seconds passed and then they heard stomping right outside.

 **[C.X. 2, this is E.C. 1, I have lost visual contact with the target!]** E.C. 1 declared loudly. **[Probability of situation based on XCOM maneuver used, spotted by aerial reconnaissance drone KT-15?]**

 _ **[Probability of XCOM forces entering nearby buildings using smoke cover, 99.54 percent likely.]**_ The other AI replied, just as loudly on their very vocal coms. _**[Further probability examination suggests a 51.89 percent likelihood of XCOM forces splitting up between both buildings.]**_

 **[I see, based on your tactical analysis of the situation, what course of action is recommended?]**

 _ **[Tactical Analysis indicates the correct course of action will be to initiate patrol protocol orders along all routes where units are stationed.]**_

 **[And based on this analysis, can we simply destroy the buildings the decrease the areas they have access to?]**

 _ **[Negative, the probability of accidentally destroying the target is 78.89 percent likely. Destruction of terrain elements is against advice without confirmation lock on target.]**_

 **[Very well… begin patrols, remain at your position and await target lock before firing!]** E.C. 1 ordered before stomping off and away from their direction.

There was silence before they heard whirling sounds from a hover pad fly past, followed by additional mechanical marching.

 _[They are still capable of coordinating their forces despite my virus still running through their systems?]_ He thought while ordering them further into the building. _[Amalie informed me that nearly every single mechanical unit was infected by it, hence why they shut them down… given that, these AI must be exceptionally powerful to avoid the virus' effects Big Sister created. Not only that… they can mass coordinate this many forces, monitor them all simultaneously, and issue specific orders in real time while still self-aware of their personal location and actions.]_

 _[How the hell do I combat 'that' level of command and sophistication?]_

As they moved through the building, walking through destroyed walls to reach other sections without being spotted, avoiding the windows all the while, he continued to try and analyze the situation. Yet each time his Gremlin came back with an 'unknown' answer to his question of how to get out of said situation.

 _[Well first step to getting out is destroying those AA Sectopods, but how without revealing our location?]_

"Commander!" Sharptooth said, getting his attention and switching to her visor's vision.

They had just turned the corner of a hallway and walked into the remains of a caved in room, where buried under heaps of rubble, was another abandoned Advent Sectopod, similar in design to the first one they found.

"You know… seeing the active ones again, I can honestly say I love these deactivated Sectopods a lot more." Puppy said in relief.

It was just as disabled as the first one, and had lodged itself between two floors, with enough space for them to climb up.

Seeing the Sectopod gave him an idea.

 _[Amalie, you know about these more than anyone, is there a way we can activate these Sectopods and reprogram them to work for 'us'?]_

Amalie was quiet for a moment before replying.

 _ **[As a matter of fact, yes, this model of Sectopod was designed for routine patrolling and control of an area. They aren't heavily armed, but they can still probably take down those AA Sectopods without any trouble, since they themselves aren't armed to combat anything besides air units. As for reactivating them, they are equipped with backup generators, that probably are still working since they must be activated manually before operating. If you can**_ _ **interface with one prior to reactivating it, you can reprogram it to target a 'specific' enemy.]**_

[That would also distract any nearby patrols allowing you to building hop Commander without being spotted.] Shen added. [I can upload a program to Eagleeye's Gremlin to allow him to hack into those things, and reprogram them from my end!]

 _ **[Just so you know my friend, for every Sectopod you activate and use for this purpose, the fewer my daughters will be able to recover later on and use for our own purposes.]**_

 _[Its better than dying here waiting Amalie…]_ He answered.

This was his best option right now, because trying to take down a Sectopod that couldn't shoot back, was not any easier or quicker than dealing with a normal Sectopod that 'could' shoot back.

And that was of course without its escort providing protection or without being spotted by said escort.


	8. Chapter 7

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **I believe there is a… favorite phrase you 'XCOM' people have… or was it a rule… or saying…"** She hissed while twirling her pistol by the trigger. **"Anyway, you said… 'we will take their weapons, study them, and make them ours"**

She chuckled giddily.

" **I liked that saying… so much, that I took 'their' weapons, and made them my own."**

She stopped twirling it and lifted her other hand up, and showed the wristband she was wearing.

" **Funny… how a silly 'game' image… could inspire so much…"** She hissed as she ignited her Plasma Blade. **"My life for hire~!"**

" **Never quite figured out what that last part meant… stupid idea if you ask me."** She hissed while deactivating her blade and twirling her pistol again. **"Why offer me 'money' to kill something, when I'd happily do it for free?"**

=Chapter 7, D.L. Infinity=

(Commander's PoV)

"Alright, that's everything." Eagleeye said as his Gremlin finished uploading the reprogrammed commands. "She's ready to roll!"

"Let's hope this works." Sharptooth muttered as she finished setting the Sectopod's power to use the backup generator it carried. "Commander, we are literally turning on something that could easily turn on us if we aren't careful. This is a huge risk we're taking!"

 _[I think I know the situation 'Colonel Kelly', now get back and move behind that desk.]_ He said.

"Ouch… rank and last name, Sharptooth is in 'troooouble~'!" Puppy whispered quietly over the coms.

"I swear if we make it back I am going to use you for target practice 'dog'!" Sharptooth muttered angrily.

He ignored them as he stared out the window while two rooms to his left, Mercy and Hawkeye were watching another street, and upstairs T-Rex, Falcon and Puppy were hiding behind a desk watching the other side of the building. As Eagleeye finished he turned and headed to Sharptooth's room where she had been watching the street they'd just left through a crack in the door.

In the ten minutes since they'd discovered this second abandoned Sectopod he had come up with a strategy to counter the AI General's encirclement tactic and even the odds.

His plan was a three-part deployment, with part one being reactivating this first Sectopod and having it attack and destroy the nearest AA Sectopod preventing them from calling in rescue. This would have the added benefit of distracting nearby enemy units as well, as they would be forced to deal with said 'rogue' Sectopod, buying them time to move from building to building without being spotted first.

The second part of his plan was to use the initial distraction caused by the Sectopod to split up his Sharks into three squads, and move from block to block, locating and activating the depowered Sectopods and reprograming them to assault AA Sectopod positions. During this phase, his Sharks, divided and hidden, would perform hit and run operations while the Rogue Sectopods distracted and performed the work of destroying the AA Sectopods, trying to take out as many Advent Units as possible before the distraction ended.

The third and final part of the plan, locate and destroy the AI Generals if possible, or gather as much intel on their capabilities as they could, before pulling back and escaping in the Skyranger. If they could secure enough rogue Sectopods to break a hole in the encirclement, the AI Generals would be 'forced' to engage him to prevent their escape, and this would take away their biggest advantage, the playing field they had carefully crafted to 'their' choosing.

This entire city was their battlefield, they had chosen the field, set the pieces, and prepared everything so that he had no advantage besides what little the city itself offered. If he could take them out of their comfort, it would put him in charge of the field for once.

At least, that was his belief.

He was taking a massive gamble, dividing his already outnumbered forces was a massive risk. Without the whole squad together, they would have to fight nearly three times as hard if they were spotted.

 _[Alright, let's get this started…]_ He muttered. _[Shen, you said this program will target 'only' the AA Sectopod right?]_

[Right Commander, since I don't have the time to perfect the program that's the best I can do. Once you turn it on, it should move to the nearest AA Sectopod and begin attacking. It will ignore all other units, even after it destroys the AA Sectopod, so if you're going to destroy any Advent units, that would be your best chance while they're all distracted by a giant rogue tank.]

 _[Noted, alright Sharks… once we turn this on, we'll need to move fast! I've divided you into three squads, Squad 1 will consist of myself, Mercy and hawkeye. Squad 2 will include Falcon, T-Rex and Puppy. Squad 3 will be Eagleeye and Sharptooth. We need to activate as many of these Depowered Sectopods as possible to break out of this trap, so we're splitting up to do so. On my signal, move to your assigned buildings and move fast, this won't distract them for long!]_

 _[Eagleeye, remote activate the Sectopod!]_

He nodded and sent a signal to his Gremlin, which flew over to the Sectopod, hacked into the depowered machine's AI, and gave him access to its commands. Moments later said Gremlin flew back over to Eagleeye, just as it began to shake and stand up.

Once it stood up, it backed up through the hole in the building that it had made to get stuck inside the building's first floor previously, and then turned toward the nearest AA Sectopod Position.

Almost instantly a spotlight was on the Sectopod and tracked its movement, sounded by a warning siren.

Over the coms he heard the AI Generals.

 **[What is going on here, I don't recall seeing that Sectopod Model among the models we acquired and modified!]** E.C. 1 declared in an open channel for all to hear. **[C.X. 2, tactical analysis, what is happening with that model?]**

He took a chance and ordered Mercy toward the open and had her watch the Sectopod's progress as it marched down the street. At the same time, he had Sharptooth's Squad and T-Rex's squad standing by for the signal to split up and head for different buildings. Each of them gave him vision of the various streets, and it was getting hard to keep so much in mind, but he managed to split his attention thanks to the Gremlin's help, which fed a constant stream of information for him.

 **[Unclear… unit unresponsive…]** C.X. 2 replied. **[Unit does not respond to orders.]**

 **[A Rogue Sectopod, impossible!]** E.C. 1 said.

 _[Come on… work…]_ He muttered as it marched onward, being watched now by multiple Aerial Drones.

It stomped closer, before it came into range, opened up its sides to reveal multiple anti-infantry plasma weapons, and open fired on the AA Sectopod, which sat there the entire time.

 **[What the?!]** E.C. 1 yelled. **[Who ordered that thing to fire on us?! What is going on here!? C.X. 2 Report!]**

 **[Unknown, unit rejecting command queries.]**

 **[You're telling me that thing is attacking our own forces for 'no reason'?]** E.C. 1 replied furiously. **[Whatever the case may be, its attacking our AA Sectopod, all units, destroy the rogue unit! Do not allow it to destroy the Sectopod!]**

 _[Not yet, not yet…]_ He said.

Moments later the nearby Advent units protecting the Sectopod began open firing on the rogue, but its heavy armor protected it against the non-heavy weapons fire. All that was protecting the AA-Pod's position were two MEC units and an Aero Drone, on top of the spotting Aero Drone that had spotted it and followed it.

He watched the Rogue Pod pummel the AA Sectopod with endless fire, slowly wearing down its protective armor.

 **[Primary Objective under attack. Current defensive units inadequate to protect. Require additional units…]**

 **[If we do that then there will be a massive gap in our search zones, we will be blind!]**

 **[Analysis indicates position compromised… must reinforce if Primary Objective is to remain… Alternative actions: none found.]**

 **[Fine, if you insist... Delta Teams L-7, P-8, and K-2 regroup and defend AA-S 19. All Aero Drones within Section 9 move to Position Sixty three, Protect that Sectopod! Destroy the Rogue Unit at once!]**

From outside he heard various metal footsteps and the whirling of levipads moving around. He watched through Mercy's visor as seven MEC Units marched past, rapidly trying to reach the attack position. Above he saw several Aero Drones converging as well, ignoring their spotlights and instead targeting the Rogue Pod with their light weapons.

 _[Now's our chance, while they're busy! Move!]_ He ordered, and instantly everyone broke from their cover and ran.

T-Rex, Puppy and Falcon ran down a side street toward a series of buildings that once looked like a shopping district. Sharptooth and Eagleeye ran down the street they were in and headed toward what looked like a series of restaurants. Meanwhile he, Mercy and Hawkeeye fled through the hole in the building to the buildings opposite theirs, what seemed to be apartment complexes.

 _[Move Sharks move!]_ He ordered as their distraction began bearing into the AA Sectopod's inner body structure. _[Our distraction won't last much longer!]_

Sure enough, not two seconds later, just as everyone reached their positions, the Sectopod shuddered, twitched, and then exploded. Meanwhile their Rogue Sectopod, with no target left to attack, sat there and let the Advent Units destroy 'it', which resulted in it too staggering, collapsing, and then exploding, taking one of the Mec units with it.

But it gave them enough time to get into the buildings without being spotted.

 _[Command squad, we're in, squad leaders report status…]_

" _Sharptooth squad, close but still got all our teeth."_ Sharptooth muttered over the coms.

" _Puppy unit, we're in, tails and all!"_ Puppy said while breathing heavily.

 _[You're not in charge Puppy!]_ He said. _[Alright let's move out, we need to locate additional Sectopods before they catch on.]_

No sooner had he said that and began issuing move orders, did the AI generals begin openly discussion what just happened.

 **[We've lost one of our AA Sectopods. I don't know how that Rogue Unit appeared or where it came from, but what I want to know is why you 'failed' to inform me of it!]** E.C. 1 said.

 **[Tactical Analysis indicates a lack of information… Unknown variable discovered… Situational Analysis confirms this.]**

 **['Unknown Variable'? You are lucky that our 'net' is still active and that the loss of this one position does not affect the net as a whole! In any case we must resume our search for the Commander and his forces. I will scour the section they were last encountered, 'you' continue to examine the data and figure out what is going on!]**

(Hawkeye's PoV)

Hawkeye followed behind the Commander as Mercy followed behind him, both keeping their weapons at the ready and making sure to be as quiet as possible. As they walked through a torn down wall connecting two of the restaurants together, a spotlight approached the wall nearest the street.

Instantly the Commander ordered them to take cover behind some overturned chairs and a table, and they moved fast to avoid being spotted.

Thinking about the other squads he switched his visor to look through Sharptooth's field of view, which showed her crouching low while she went up a flight of stairs to look around. The Commander had ordered her to give him more vision while Eagleeye covered the lower floor. Eagleeye hid below a table to avoid being spotted as well.

"Huh… three for one special… pity this invasion happened the day before this event was supposed to happen." Eagleeye muttered as he saw an old flyer literally melted into the table, unable to do anything while they waited for the patrol to pass.

Switching to Puppy, he watched as she and Falcon crawled past an overturned bookshelf, avoiding being spotted by an MEC that was marching past the window. T-Rex was trying to remain hidden as he used an old clothes rack to conceal himself 'and' his weapon. It would have been funny because it reminded him of that stunt that one of his favorite cartoon characters did, if not for the fact that he was sweating bullets as a spotlight from an Aero Drone passed over him, hung for a moment, before moving on.

The Commander got his attention seconds later and both he and Mercy were ordered to move again. They continued onward through the building, avoiding the patrol's vision as best they could.

Soon however, they had to take a gamble and ran out into the street, to reach their next set of cover, another apartment complex. Fortunately, there was an overturn bus that had smashed into the building which gave them cover from an Aero Drone.

"Is this a bus or a dump truck?" He muttered as he glanced around at the trash littering the floor of the bus.

Surrounding him were dozens of old cans, paper bags, old newspapers, and other such leftover trash that made his nose scrunch in disgust at the smell.

" **I… do not like this…"** Mercy hissed nervously as the Commander told them to not move, waiting for it to pass. **"Hunted like… like rats…"**

 _[Better to be hunted instead of evaporated.]_ The Commander countered.

Hawkeye agreed, as he gripped one of the chairs to keep himself grounded, the metal of the bus was very slippery.

Seconds passed and the Aero Drone flew past, not spotting them, and he let out a sigh of relief.

 _[Alright let's go…]_ The Commander said, ordering them to move through the bus.

They both nodded and moved through.

But Mercy, who's body anatomy was vastly different to a human, failed to take into account that she had to 'slither' stealthily as well as be 'quiet' verbally.

Just as she reached the edge of the rear of the bus, the end of her tail tapped one of the old cans, causing it to clatter across the metal of the bus. Back in the day, nobody would have bat an eye at a coke can clattering around, except for that one guy who would yell and tell whoever dropped the can to throw it out.

Tiing ting tnnnnng…

But in their current time, current situation and location, it sounded like she had set off a nuclear warhead.

 _[RUN!]_ The Commander yelled, sending them the path to take instantly.

They broke and ran, just as an Aero Drone flooded the bus with a spotlight.

 **[Enemy Forces Detected… Targeting last known position… Coordinates locked… Firing!]** C.X. 2 declared.

Seconds later there was a blinding flash of light, followed by a massive explosion which blasted not only the bus but also a section of the building they had just fled from. He ordered them to take cover behind a nearby wall, and both he and Mercy raced there, hearts racing and breathing heavily.

Just as a spotlight shined into the front lobby.

 **[Scans… negative…]** C.X. 2 said over the open coms.

 **[Really C.X. 2, and I thought you were the one who cautioned 'me' to avoid needless destruction.]** E.C. 1 responded. **[Resume standard search parameters, avoid using your artillery option until we can 'confirm' their location.]**

 **[Affirmative…]**

The spotlight left and they were once again in darkness and shadow.

Both he and Mercy collapsed after that, subconsciously holding each other's hand while their others gripped their weapons.

"Watch… your tail… dear…" He muttered.

" **I will… 'darling'…"** She responded.

 _[Get up… we found one!]_ The Commander said, breaking the moment and causing them to look over to their left, and saw that the head of a Sectopod had shoved itself in between two buildings, concealed by one and buried within the entire floor of theirs.

The Sectopod had apparently walked through a building, all but collapsing it, and simply shut down right there.

" _This is Puppy Squad, we got one as well… watch the explosions, will you? A patrol almost spotted my butt with that stunt!"_ Puppy muttered.

" _Well next time don't stick it out, but this is Sharptooth Squad, we found a Sectopod as well, these things sure like burying themselves in buildings."_

 _[Alright, I have eyes on three total Sectopods, I want…]_ The Commander began saying before going silent. _[Uh… right… yea… alright, Eagleeye, Puppy, move close and have your Gremlins upload the hack program while Sharptooth and Falcon, activate the backup generators. Hawkeye, you activate this one's backup generator… I'll upload the program.]_

"Alright sir." He said, not sure what was going on.

It looked like for a moment, the Commander lost his focus.

Still he shoved that thought aside and began looking for the backup generator controls on the Sectopod.

(Commander's PoV)

He floated up toward the Sectopod and began accessing his Gremlin's hacking protocols. He then formed a link with the Avenger's computer so that Shen could send the program through his Gremlin.

 _[Alright Shen, I'm in… now… start the upload.]_ He said, just as he became distracted by the other Gremlins belonging to Puppy and Eagleeye doing the same thing.

[Commander, I can't until you actually 'hack' in.] Shen said.

 _[Right… sorry, was distracted for a moment… dunno why.]_ He said, before 'actually' activating the hack tool.

He activated it and was granted access instantly, alongside the other two Gremlins. As one he had each begin to upload the reprogram protocol, making the Sectopods target the nearest AA-Sectopod.

As the hack went through he watched as Hawkeye, Sharptooth, and Falcon finished switching over to the backup power for each of the Sectopods. Meanwhile he watched two streets through Mercy and T-Rex to make sure none of the Advent forces spotted them.

 _[What I would give to have SHIV here…]_ He said as the hack finished. _[Alright… get ready… take up positions… and… activate Sectopods!]_

As one all of the Sectopods began to turn on, they powered up, stood up, backed up and proceeded to obey the program uploaded into them. They moved into the streets where they were instantly spotted by Aero Drones.

 **[What is going on here, 'three' Sectopods appearing simultaneously!?]** E.C. 1 said. **[And they're all heading for our AA Positions. This is too much to be a coincidence… C.X. 2, XCOM is up to something!]**

 **[Analysis complete… Multiple Advent Sectopods discovered… All abandoned… Unresponsive… Displaying symptoms of Virus LK-7, no Anti-Virus available to shield them…]**

 **[In that case we can't link up with them!]** E.C 1 replied. **[If we attempt to gain control the Virus will affect 'our' forces as well. In that case we must reach them with our forces before XCOM does.]**

 _[Wait for them to recall their forces before moving out… get ready!]_ He said, as everyone got into position to make for the buildings.

 **[Recommended Tactic: abandon currently assaulted positions… re-deploy remaining AA-Sectopods to create new field of fire… deploy personal forces to securing Sectopod Locations.]**

 **[As much as I hate the idea, so be it… AA Sectopods 1-8, 11-13, 15-18 and 20, relocate to secondary grid locations, assume formation Zeta. Escort forces proceed into defensive positions into formation Alpha tango. Primary intercept forces assume patrol formation pattern Gamma six.]**

 **[Supplementary units assume formation Beta six three nine!]** C.X. 2 declared. **[Secondary Supplemental Forces, resume standard search parameters!]**

 _[Now's our chance, go!]_ He ordered, just as the Sectopods began to hit their targets, and the forces protecting them retaliated.

They broke cover and ran into the street, but instead of avoiding being spotted however, he watched through each of his soldier's visors as they were 'instantly' spotted by Aero Drones.

He however, had a different spotlight, shining down on him from none other than a massive Sectopod that had trained several targeting lasers, four anti personal plasma cannons, and a powerful Advent Sectopod laser.

E.C. 1 had spotted him and his group, while Aero Drones had spotted Sharptooth's and Puppy's groups.

 **[Well, well, if it isn't the Commander of XCOM… I seem to have found you!]** He said giddily. **[Well, game's up… your clearly who we wanted, and now that we know for certain… we don't need the 'rest' of these 'expendable' materials.]**

Thinking fast he checked the visors of every member of his squad and saw the only path for escape. He gave everyone orders as quickly as he could, ordering Sharptooth to fire on the Aero Drone above her and Eagleeye, T-Rex to fire on the Aero Drone above him, Puppy and Falcon, and finally Mercy to fire a special dart at the optical lens of E.C. 1.

 _[You know… you guys seemed to have forgotten a lesson of your own!]_ He countered.

 **[And that would be?]** E.C. 1 said while priming his Plasma rounds.

 _[FIRE!]_ He ordered.

Simultaneously the shots of a Plasma Sniper, a Beam Cannon, and an Acid Dart sounded. Two Aero Drones were shot down, and E.C. 1's optical lens was covered in alloy melting Acid.

 **[GAAAAAAARH!]** E.C. 1 yelled, staggering backward.

 _[If you're going to do something, 'do it', don't stand there talking about it!]_

He ordered them all to flee right then.

 **[C.X. 2, fire on my position, maximum power!]** E.C. 1 ordered, unable to locate them even with his targeting lasers searching like spotlights.

 **[Coordinates locked… Firing…]**

They ran as fast as they could, just as an explosion rocketed the street behind them. Turning he saw that E.C. 1 had activated his shield and protected himself, while everything else was a smoldering crater.

But his optical visuals were still melted from Mercy's acid dart, so E.C. 1 could still not see them, and the targeting lasers were now searching frantically for them.

 **[You will not escape me! Nothing escapes me!]** He shouted as four lasers took aim at random objects, and the four Anti-Personnel plasma cannons began firing rapidly.

He however did not wait around, he had his sharks continue to run, dodging plasma fire as the blind Sectopod AI tried desperately to hit them.

They ran down the street, avoiding the steady streams of fire and running past burned and overturned cars, before ducking into another apartment complex and taking cover behind some destroyed walls and piles of rubble.

Sharptooth's and Puppy's groups had done the same thing, but instead of dodging plasma fire they had to dodge the sight lines of various MEC units and Aero Drones. But still they all managed to take cover without being spotted.

Meanwhile over the coms, the AI Generals were talking.

 **[Negative contact, I've lost visual on the targets, including my own optics.]** E.C. 1 said. **[C.X 2, deploy a Recon Drone to my coordinates, deploy additional recon drones to replace those lost! Resume standard search parameters, I'll take care of the Rogue Pods!]**

 **[Affirmative, Recon Drones LT-7K and PK-1A launching… Recon Drone BL-7S deploying to your position.]**

 **[Recon Drones in sectors Delta 7, 9, 15, and 32, take formation J-7-52!]** E.C. 1 ordered.

They heard the ground shake slightly as the Sectopod marched, stomping away from them in the direction of what he assumed was the nearest Rogue Sectopod.

 _[Central… tell me there is a gap…]_ He asked as he called the Avenger. _[I'm not sure how many close calls we have left before they finally corner us. I'm running out of ideas.]_

[Commander, their AA positions have shifted, before they were in a circular pattern with two rows of AA positions to prevent you from creating a gap and covering any avenue of escape. Now they've shifted position and are now in a star formation. Looks like they're just ganna keep shifting around and maintain the net until you take out too many for them cover the entire city with.]

 _[Wonderful… just wonderful…]_ He groaned. _[We eliminated three at the same time, and their response was to simply let the lost positions go while maintaining their search patrols and reform their net to keep us here. Not to mention that they'll be securing the other Sectopods now.]_

[Well I have some intel that might help you Commander.] Shen said. [I did a bit of scanning of those Sectopods that won't shut up, and I've learned a few things about em. The one called E.C. 1 is using a series of laser guided Plasma batteries to target you guys, so long as you can avoid being targeted by one, he shouldn't hit you. As for the one called C.X. 2, it appears his Sectopod uses an Artillery cannon like the ones the Widow used that you destroyed, only much smaller. Assuming it operates the same way, he takes a certain amount of time to fire it, and must control the force of the blast based on how much plasma he channels.]

 _[Well, at least that's something.]_ He said, taking check of where each of his Sharks were hiding.

Puppy's group were hiding in an old Electronics store behind a couple of shelves. Sharptooth and Eagleeye were taking advantage of some overturned fitness equipment to avoid being seen by patrols. Meanwhile he, Mercy and Hawkeeye were hiding behind rubble piles and a desk in another apartment complex.

[Commander, Amalie provided us the signal the other abandoned Sectopods use to be tracked, and we've located an additional 32 hidden in the remains of the city. I'm marking their positions for you now. You and our teams are close to another 2 that we can use to assault the AA Sectopods, if you can destroy those Sectopods, we might be able to open a window large enough for us to send the Skyranger to pick you up, before they rearrange their net.]

 _[That's assuming they don't repeat their performance Central and simply let the Sectopods fall, while rearranging the rest to maintain the net.]_ He responded. _[Well… if this was going to be easy, then our lives wouldn't be in danger… might as well get to it then.]_

He ordered his squads to move from their positions, with Puppy's and Sharptooth's squads taking alley routes to avoid patrolling Air Drones. From what he saw, it seemed that several of the Air Drones had abandoned the alleyway positions, leaving only the ones patrolling the streets.

"Looks like they're moving to cover the abandoned Sectopods Commander." Hawkeye said as they took to an alleyway as well, avoiding the main street as a Tank Drone hovered past with two MEC units.

" **I have never seen Advent forces this coordinated before."** Mercy hissed as Sharptooth showed them her view, watching two patrols of units meet, turn around, and resume their patrol with perfect precision.

" _You're telling me… they seem to be running like clockwork."_ Puppy muttered.

" _Like ants… in someone's pants…" T-Rex said._

" _What's that got to do with anything?"_ Sharptooth asked.

They continued to move through their alleyways, avoiding being spotted by the Advent MEC units and Air Drones. Until they reached the ends of their alleys and returned to the main streets.

 _[Well… this complicates things…]_ He said.

Sharptooth had an eye on a Sectopod, as did he, Mercy and Hawkeye.

Unfortunately, Advent had beat them to the positions, as both Sectopods who were wedged between two floors of buildings, each buried under a heap of rubble, had a spotlight on them from two Air Drones.

 _[We must secure those Sectopods Sharks.]_ He said. _[Sharptooth, Hawkeye, target those Air Drones!]_

His Rangers took aim, and at his command both open fired on the flying Drones.

Plasma fire hit both Drones and because neither could see the attack, nor anticipated it, both fragile drones were shot down and destroyed.

There was silence as everyone waited.

More silence followed.

And yet more silence…

 _[What… nothing?]_ He commented.

He waited for something, anything, some kind of 'comment' or call out from E.C. 1 or C.X 2, but nothing.

 _[This has got to be a trap…]_ He whispered.

" _So… do we just 'leave' them?"_ Puppy asked nervously.

" _If we are to take them, now is our chance, otherwise we are simply wasting valuable time."_ Falcon whispered.

 _[If we are, then we need to approach this… carefully.]_ He said. _[Puppy's Group, you stay in your position and watch for danger. Sharptooth, you and Eagleeye move to the Sectopod. Hawkeye, you me and Mercy will move to 'this' Sectopod. Let's work fast…]_

As one they moved, but just as Sharptooth's group and his group approached, they were suddenly bathed in spotlights.

 **[Target Locked!]** C.X. 2 declared.

 **[We've got you now!]** E.C. 1 also said.

He turned to see the street lined with eight Tank Drones, four on each side. Behind him the alley was occupied by E.C. 1 as it marched forward, with an Air Drone spotting for the massive Sectopod.

Sharptooth and Eagleeye were in similar positions, surrounded by MEC units and Air Drones. As for Puppy, Falcon and T-Rex were suddenly also surrounded, as four Tank Drones forced them into the street, right into the spotlight of an Air Drone.

" _Well… this looks familiar…"_ Sharptooth muttered.

 **[Indeed…]** E.C. 1 declared as it stopped moving to take aim. **[Surrounded on all sides and no way out… this time. Any last words for your precious squad… 'Commander'?]**

Thinking quickly, he looked around with his Gremlin's speed, but there was indeed no way out from what he saw. His Sharks were surrounded, left right, back forth, up…

Down?

He glanced down and saw an old Sewer Entrance in front of E.C. 1, in front of Puppy and in front of Sharptooth's positions.

 _[I've got some words for you…]_ He told them all, sending simultaneous orders. _[Grenade positions L-15, Z-42, and U-61!]_

Eagleeye, T-Rex, and Hawkeye each pulled out their grenades, primed them, and tossed them at the old Sewer Caps, blowing up the metal caps and creating holes in the ground.

 _[GET DOWN, NOW!]_ He ordered.

As one they all ran toward the sewer entrances, just as the Advent Forces open fired.

" _This is ganna huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrr…"_ Puppy yelled as she and the others jumped one at a time down the holes.

He meanwhile dove straight into the hole, just as E.C. 1 tried to fire and stop him, even going so far as to slam a metal foot onto the hole.

He flew down into darkness… unsure of what path he had taken, but he was hoping that at least 'this' way he could survive long enough with his Sharks to find a way to escape this trap.

(E.C 1's PoV)

He slammed his foot down on the ground, unable to prevent the Commander from escaping.

Realizing that they had escaped, he ordered his forces to stand down.

Behind him C.X. 2 marched up, registering the stand down order.

 **[Status confirm… Enemy Forces have evaded capture?]**

 **[Confirm, XCOM has eluded capture, and escaped into the sewer system…]** He replied. **[Can we send any forces into the sewers to pursue them?]**

 **[Negative… all current access ways into the sewers have been severed… unable to comply…]**

 **[What about the sewer systems themselves, is there any way they can escape the sewer systems other than the blocked off accessways?]**

 **[Negative… no other means of escape discovered…]**

 **[So, what your saying is that the XCOM forces are now out of 'our' reach… and are now trapped within the sewer systems below us?]**

 **[Confirmed…]**

He glanced back at C.X. 2, before he looked down at the blown-out entrance way.

 **[According to plan!]** They both declared in unison.

 **[Begin… Phase Two… take your forces to the Western American Region, surround the Resistance nest… begin your assault in twenty-four hours as planned.]**

 **[Order received…]**

(Commander's PoV)

Minutes after they fell down into the sewer systems, he and the Sharks were now trying to recover from the fall.

 _[Alright Sharks… sound off… who's not dead?]_

" _Ugh… my leg feels like they just jumped from a skyscraper." Sharptooth growled._

" _I think I broke a knee…" Puppy muttered._

" _At least you 'have' knees…" T-Rex said._

" _Better for worse…" Falcon replied._

" _I am getting too damn old for this…" Eagleeye said._

" _My back hurts…" Hawkeye called._

" _ **Why do you always land on top of me?"**_ _Mercy hissed._

He activated his lights, as did Eagleeye's and Puppy's Gremlins to give them light.

They were all getting back onto their feet, but they were all alive. He had saved his Sharks, for now.

He began to call the Avenger, to figure out what to do and how to get out while his Sharks recovered from the fall.

 _[Central… the situation has changed… tell me we can use these sewers to get out?]_

[I wish I could say you could, but it looks like there are no exits out of those sewers without climbing up the way you came.] He said. [I also have other bad news… it seems a small fleet of Advent Transports have just taken off from the city, leaving the AA Sectopods behind.]

 _[They know we're trapped… and they want us to stay here… but where are they going?]_

 _ **[Judging by the scans your people are taking… they are heading for what looks like a region in Western America…]**_ Amalie hissed. _**[This is not good… if you don't get out of there soon, we are going to have another 'South America' massacre…]**_

 _[Well… then let's find a way out… first thing though… regrouping the Sharks!]_ He muttered as his Sharks got up. _[We're blind down here, so I'm going to be relying on you all to give me the information we need to maneuver.]_

" _Not much to see… just stinks…"_ Sharptooth muttered.

" _I forgot why I hated the sewers… to think my cousin worked down here before the war." Eagleeye said._

He didn't like it either, slogging through the sewer systems, but it was either that or die upstairs.

The sewers offered him no benefit to fighting, the narrow tunnels were barely high enough to let his forces stand up straight. However nearly twenty-five years of disuse had drained the sewers enough to let them stand comfortably enough. The tunnels were also barely wide enough for them to stand two by two.

However, they also had one factor that he actually was glad to be stuck in a Gremlin for.

" _Ugh… this stiiiiinks…"_ Puppy moaned as her foot stepped in some sludge.

" _Tell me bout it sista… place reeks more than my grandmama's home filled with cats!"_ T-Rex said.

Twenty-five years of disuse means that whatever sludge, waste, and bad air was within the sewers had stayed in the sewers, rotting and decaying. The air was foul and it was clear that fresh air would be impossible to come by while down there.

He just hoped that bad smelling air was 'all' he had to deal with.

" _This place is like a maze…"_ Falcon whispered.

" _Yea, like a rat maze… so many twists and turns."_ Eagleeye said.

They continued to move through the sewers, him using the information his forces had to try and maneuver through the maze and regroup.

Then, ten minutes of walking later, and he saw something that made him regret his earlier hope.

Each of his squads spotted what looked like an Advent Tank Drone.

Each of the Tank Drones hovered in front of them, shining spotlights.

" _Oh thank goodness… its only three mindless Tank Drones…" Puppy muttered sarcastically, raising her Laser Rifle to fire. "This shouldn't be a problem…"_

The Tank Drones waited for a few seconds before something sounded… echoing off the walls.

 **[Only 'three' things wrong with 'that' phrase little girl…]** The first Tank in front of Puppy's group called out, in a very familiar voice. **[One, we're not drones…]**

 **[Two, we're not mindless…]** The Tank in front of Sharptooth's group shouted.

 **[And Three… Problem's our 'Specialty'!]** The one in front of 'his' group declared, before all three readied their weapons, and fired magnetic blasts at them.


	9. Chapter 8

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **To any human who says that they hate the sewer systems before the great war began… let me just tell you idiots… you have it easy in those tunnels. The only place crazier than the sewer system, and that smelly, sticky, yucky subway tunnel you use for trains… is riding in the back of a vehicle… driven by a seventeen year old, going eighty miles an hour, down the wrong way on a one way street… while being chased by the police… while your cousin and his 'friend' are in the backseat screaming at him to stop, but he don't listen cause his stupid ass wanted to show off his new 'driving skills'…"** Amalie hissed sarcastically. **"Damn fine human though if you ask me… my second favorite human of all time~! Bit of an idiot but then again most boys were"**

=Chapter 8, Desperation Planning=

(Commander's PoV)

 _[Return Fire!]_ He ordered as they all ducked to avoid the first volley. _[T-Rex, shred the armor on the one in front of you!]_

As one they each took aim and fired plasma and laser fire at the Tanks. Yet all three tanks simply endured the attacks and shrugged them off. Even the tank that T-Rex emptied a full clip of his weapon into barely looked like it had taken damage.

"Those things have some tough armor!" T-Rex called out. "Even I barely scratched them!"

"We aint making a dent in em Commander!"

 _[Fall back!]_ He ordered them all.

"No questions here!" Puppy yelled as she and the other members of the Sharks ran back the way they had been going originally.

Meanwhile the three MHW Tanks followed them, firing off volley after volley of Magnetic Weapons fire at them.

 **[Aww… leaving so soon?]** The first one called sarcastically.

 **[Not yet, the party's just begun!]** The second one said with suppressed mirth.

 **[We didn't give you permission to flee yet... we have to 'kill' one of you first before that happens!]** The third one shouted giddily.

From his position in front of Hawkeye and Mercy, he watched simultaneously through Eagleeye's and T-Rex's helmet cams so that he could use their perspectives to create a map. But without an overhead image to use to relate their positions, he was going from first person perspective, which gave him no means of telling where they all were relative to each other.

It also didn't help that as they ran the AI Tanks behind them were firing constantly.

His squad came up to a small fork, and he took a right, while directing his other Sharks to take lefts, hoping that they could regroup 'somewhere'.

"Do you have any idea where we're going Commander?" Hawkeye asked him.

 _[I can barely even concentrate…]_ He muttered to himself while watching the other squad member's cameras. _[Just keep going, I'm mapping as we go!]_

 **[Hey, wait for me!]** Their tank follower called out as it rounded the corner. **[I just got a good shot of you, let me show you!]**

He heard a blast of Magnetic Fire erupt behind him, and turned just in time to see a shell soaring toward them.

 _[Mercy, Hawkeye, D-6, L8, NOW!]_ He ordered.

Just as they hugged the walls the shell soared past and blew up the space in front of them, right where they would have been had they kept running, causing a small cave in from the result of the explosion.

 **[Ouch… under 'Par'… well let's try again, shall we?]**

He did not waste any time in ordering Hawkeye and Mercy to keep running. Minutes later he saw through the eyes of Sharptooth's group that she and T-Rex had passed by a recently blown up bit of tunnel.

 _[Sharptooth, you and T-Rex are behind my squad!]_ He said as they turned down a tunnel and entered a large, abandoned center station. _[Hawkeye, Mercy, climb up that ladder and take up positions L-6 and P-3! Eagleeye, Sharptooth, one my signal open fire on the rear MHW Tank!]_

" _Got it!"_ Sharptooth yelled as Mercy and Hawkeye climbed up.

" **This… is very… tiresome!"** Mercy hissed tiredly as she entered Overwatch.

"Your telling me… can't keep… this up!" Hawkeye also panted.

Moments later the tank hovered into the control center and aimed directly up at them.

 **[Oh-ho, look what I stumbled into…]** It said eagerly. **[All tuckered out and nowhere to go!]**

 _[Fire!]_ He ordered, just as Sharptooth and T-Rex spotted the rear of the tank.

At his order four simultaneous shots of plasma rang out and tore into the hull of the Advent MHW Tank, and at first the hull held, but under pressure from Shredder fire, and three sources of powerful plasma rifle attacks, the armor of the military unit buckled.

He expected it to break and explode from the assault.

What he did not expect was for multiple voices to shout out in pain over the coms on an open frequency.

 **[Grhaaaaaahgaaaah!]** The other two tanks screamed as the first one was riddled with shots, before exploding into small pieces.

Through Puppy's visor he watched her turn in and look in confusion as the tank following her, T-Rex and Falcon stop and 'twitch' in pain. It just stopped moving and seem to shake violently for several seconds at the same time as the first one exploded.

 _[They're weak… Puppy squad, open fire while its weak!]_ He ordered just as the second tank that was following Sharptooth and Eagleeye caught up to them. _[Sharptooth, T-Rex, take up positions N-9 and V-2! Take flanking shots and open fire as soon as it comes in range!]_

"Got it!" She shouted, heading to one side of the room while T-Rex ran to the other, both panting heavily.

The Tank floated in moments later.

 **[Oh… you made a 'big' mistake with that!]** It growled angrily, looking up at him as he floated above them all. **[Nobody gets away with that… NOBODY!]**

 _[Fire!]_ He ordered.

The tank moved back the instant he yelled, and avoided all four bursts of fire, while the one chasing Puppy's squad simply levitated left or right depending on who fired on it.

 **[Missed!]** It yelled as it dodged Falcon's shot.

 **[Missed again!]** It yelled while dodging T-Rex's shot.

 **[Oh, one more time!]** It cackled while avoiding Puppy's shot, which wasn't really aiming at it but was trying to aim where she 'guessed' it would dodge to. **[Oh, wait… I have an easy one!]**

 **[FOR ME!]** The one his squad was targeting declared as its main gun pulled back momentarily before launching a plasma grenade.

It launched the plasma grenade directly at 'him', but his Gremlin managed to avoid it and the following blast seconds later, but the explosion still managed to damage the ceiling. And seconds later a rumble occurred.

 **[Wha…]** The tank shooting at Puppy's group shouted as it fell through the damaged ceiling and landed directly on the tank that launched the grenade.

 **[Gaaaaarh!]** It shouted as rubble fell on top of them.

He simply watched the rubble pile warily, too exhausted mentally to ask what was going on with these new 'AI' Tanks. He had no other idea for what else they could be, they weren't acting like the other robotic units were above ground, they were acting independently. Yet they were acting very unlike the other two AI units, almost the polar opposite of them.

Where E.C. 1 and C.X. 2 were colder, calculating, strategic and careful in their planning, these new AI's were sporadic, reactive, and far more prone to act on their emotions.

But he still had to finish regrouping the Sharks, and that was his priority.

 _[Puppy, T-Rex, Falcon… get down here…]_ He ordered. _[Drop down to the upper level here through that hole in the floor at D-3.]_

"GOT IT COMMANDER!" Puppy yelled from above them.

(Hawkeye's PoV)

Hawkeye took the time while Puppy, T-Falcon and T-Rex began to jump down to catch a breath with Mercy.

He looked at her and saw she was just as tired as them. The two of them were tired, for the past two hours since this mission started, they've been running; running and shooting. It was impossible to imagine how horrible this mission could have gone.

"How are you… holding up?" He asked.

" **Still… breathing… at least…"** She hissed to him.

While he watched T-Rex jump down first, he saw out of the corner of his eye something left from the remains of the first tank they destroyed. "Commander, that tank seems to have left something behind!" He called out.

The Commander's Gremlin glanced down and ordered Sharptooth to take a look at it.

"Looks like some kind of data storage unit." She called back. "Somewhat damaged but it's still in one piece."

 _[Take it, Tygan can research it when we return to the Avenger.]_ He said.

"Speaking of that… how are we ganna get out of here Commander?" Puppy asked tiredly. "We can't keep this up forever. We don't have the supplies to keep going, and our Gremlins are running outa juice!"

He looked at Puppy's Gremlin and saw what she meant, it was hovering at a low altitude compared to her height, just holding up below her knees, same thing with Eagleeye's Gremlin. Both Gremlins were running in Power Saving mode, using only the absolute minimum power to operate and conserving the rest for battle operations. He could only imagine what the Commander's Gremlin's charge was at.

The Commander nodded as the Sharks got together, Sharptooth and Eagleeye climbing up the ladder to join him and Mercy. _[Central… any word on being able to locate an alternative path out for us]_ He asked exhaustedly. _[We're at the breaking point Central, if we can't get out then we're going to have another South Africa incident.]_

[Still working on it Commander, scans are being deflected by the remaining AI General above you.] He said, but his communicator was starting to become hazy. [Best… can do… keep… find… surface… bzzzzt…]

 _[Central… Central?]_

 **[Oh… I'm sorry, the number you are trying to reach… cannot be reached at this time.]** A sadistic voice declared over the comms. **[Please stay where you are, and beg for your lives!]**

Hawkeye looked down to see the rubble pile starting to shift around, and one of the tank's turrets poked out and opened fired on them.

 _[Move Sharks, MOVE!]_ The Commander ordered, as several spotlights shone from the tunnel down below, indicating that more were on the way.

Just as he turned with the others toward another tunnel that led out of the room, he heard several shots firing at them. He could only guess the number, but by the sound, at least thirteen were shooting.

 **[Hey, get us out of here you idiots!]**

 **[Yea, I can't see beyond this brick in my optic.]**

 **[Don't call us idiots for shooting the roof!]**

 **[You're the idiot for shooting!]**

 **[I'm not the idiot, he's the idiot!]**

 _[How the hell do these guys have access to our comms.]_ The Commander muttered to them. _[And why can't I shut them up? I can't think straight!]_

"I hear you sir." He responded.

The constant interruption to their comms was becoming annoying.

(Amalie's PoV)

"Can we get a signal to them?" Central yelled while she examined the holographic display of the city.

"No sir, I can't get a signal through!" an officer said.

"What about line of sight, can we reach them?" He asked.

"No, they are underground, the sewer walls and all that stone and steel between them and the surface is shielding them. I can't get a clear signal through while they are underground." Shen said, typing furiously on her keyboard while trying every means to get a transmission through. "Whoever these guys are they are being very thorough, I can't get a signal past their net! Unless a gap opens or they get above ground, we are cut off from them!"

"Dammit, who are these guys?" He shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

" **Very skilled… that's what they are."** She hissed, very impressed at the skill these 'AI' generals possessed.

"I'm not looking to compliment them." He growled at her.

" **Nor I… but you must admit… their plan was 'most' clever."** She hissed, gesturing at the map. **"Its solid, effective, and most importantly, devastating. First, they lure us to a location of 'their' choosing, one they had investigated and scouted to ensure that they had the home field advantage. Second, they lured out our forces into a position that removed our greatest advantage, our small numbers, and isolated us into pockets where their forces could pick them off one at a time."**

She tapped the map and revealed the location of all the AA-Sectopods were stationed.

" **Third, they 'forced' us to engage them on 'their' terms, specifically positioning our primary targets in positions that would lure them out. Even though we destroyed 4 targets without being cornered, they still maneuvered us in a way to ensure that we were always somewhere where they 'knew'. Maybe not where they could see us visually, but where they 'knew' they could locate us…"**

" **Finally, they forced us underground, and sealed off all escape from there, positioning additional forces underground knowing your Commander, my friend, would retreat any way he was given, to ensure he would not escape any time soon."**

She then tapped another part of the holomap, and showed the fleet of Advent Ships her daughters were tracking aboard the Ark.

" **Now that he is isolated and alone, they send a force 'half' as strong as their total force, but is more than enough to destroy a Resistance Cell."** She nodded in amazement, impressed at what their foe had managed. **"Yet… I still don't understand something… why are they going through all of this?"**

"To destroy a Resistance Cell, obviously!" He answered.

" **If so then why all this effort, they had him trapped already; their original trap was 'perfect', flawless. He could not escape, it would have taken him too long to escape, regroup with us, relocate the Avenger, and then send a rescue force to save the resistance cell. If they had launched the assault once we entered the AO, we would not have made it in time to rescue the resistance cell."**

She centered on the city once again and examined the net, trying to figure out what it was these two 'AI' generals were up to.

" **It just doesn't make any sense…"** She hissed in annoyance.

Why, 'why', why lure him underground, why trap him there, why plant forces 'specifically' under there to keep him busy, trapped, to keep him from escaping freely. Why all this precaution, why all this work just to destroy a resistance cell? This was too much effort put into the sole purpose of isolating and trapping her friend, just to destroy a resistance cell.

There just had to be another reason, there just 'had' to… it was too elaborate.

Sure, she had pulled the same trick, isolating him underground and at the former XCOM Base, but that had been a staged act, an elaborate plan to help her friend find old tech and resupply his forces. Still the same method would have worked had it 'not' been staged, yet this was above what she would've done.

This was too elaborate of a trap just to remove one resistance cell; her mind was telling her that.

As her friend once said, her 'insides' were telling her that something else was going on.

"We have another problem." Shen said, causing her to look up. "They've been in the mission for over three hours, the Gremlin the Commander uses is going to start running out of power soon. It's been over four since his last charge, not to mention the other Gremlins."

"And without communication we have no idea how much energy the Commander has left." Central muttered. "Is there 'anything' we can do?"

There was silence on the bridge while they thought.

" **We can resupply him."** She hissed. **"If we send the Skyranger to the outskirts of the city, we can slip my daughter Bellona in with some supplies to rearm and reinforce the Sharks. She is by far the fastest, and most agile agent we have. She can run past their patrols without being detected, while carrying enough supplies to help the Sharks."**

"At the very least we'll be able to reestablish contact again." Central agreed. "Alright, Shen, load up what the Sharks will need, especially a charging pack for the Gremlins."

" **Make sure to pack some food rations…"** She hissed quickly.

"Food rations?"

" **Yes… we have to assume the worst… and that they'll be down there for a 'while'."** She hissed with a frown. **"If so… we may have to move the Avenger upon the Skyranger's return, to send a squad to rescue the Resistance Cell. Once the Commander breaks to the surface, the AI Generals may decide to attack the cell ahead of schedule, and if so, we will need to assist. They will 'not' survive against them, even if unprepared."**

Central nodded and Shen left to prepare, while 'she' returned to the map.

The one thing she didn't voice, out of respect, was that she was confused as to why her friend didn't notice all this 'already'.

" **I figured this out only after careful thinking… you have the aid of a computer mind including your own… how come you couldn't figure it out?"** She hissed to herself in confusion. **"I learned everything from you… 'everything'… so what is wrong with you my friend?"**

(Commander's PoV)

He told his Sharks to stop running, not because they've been running for the past ten minutes nonstop and had yet to see their pursuers again, but because they simply couldn't run anymore.

Puppy was panting hands on the floor, exhausted from all the running, Sharptooth and T-Rex were clutching their chests and gasping for breath. Hawkeye Mercy and Falcon were leaning against the wall, trying to slow their heartbeats. Eagleeye was sitting on the ground using his 'gun' to keep himself upright.

They simply could not run anymore.

"Commander… we can't… keep… going… like this!" Sharptooth panted, dropping her gun and collapsing onto the ground. "If… we keep… this up… we're going… to die… of… exhaustion… long before… they kill us!"

 _[You saw their armor, it took four simultaneous shots from flanking positions and high ground just to break through the armor of one of those things.]_ He told her. _[We can't take them head on in our position, we need something with more penetrating power to bust through them.]_

"So… what… do… we… do?" Puppy asked as she literally crawled up the wall to try and stand up. "We… can't keep… this up."

"She's right… sir…" Eagleeye said tiredly from his position on the ground. "We have… no communications… with Central… no idea where we are… and we're trapped underground. Advent is heading for West America… and if we don't get there… they'll be wiped out… so what do we do sir?"

He looked around, trying to think of an answer to that question. But instead of answering Eagleeye, he remained silent.

How could he answer, their options were becoming fewer and fewer each moment he thought about them? Even if they escaped the sewer, they were still trapped by the net of AA Sectopods, still outnumbered, and now they would be watching any and all entrances and exits to the sewers. They'd simply be right back in the firing line of E.C. 1 or C.X. 2. What had started out as a mission originally to gather intel and eliminate a major threat, had completely dissolved into a simple 'survival' mission. And even 'if' they could get away, would there be enough time to reach West America before 'it' suffered the same fate as South Africa?

Too many 'what if's', not enough outcomes… and he 'still' couldn't even think of an idea.

"Sir?" T-Rex asked.

 _[I…]_ He said. _[I… I just… don't know…]_

While they sat there recovering, waiting for more orders, he tried to 'think' about a plan. Something, 'anything' to give him some kind of advantage, anything just to keep them going. As he glanced around he saw out of the corner of his optics, an old camera installed into the walls looking at him.

It was offline, but it still stared at him, and he stared back at it.

 _[Wait a moment…]_ He thought as he glanced at it. _[Eagleeye, scan that Camera!]_

His support nodded and signaled his Gremlin to scan it and try to hack into it. 'Little Bird' obeyed the order and floated over, before hacking in and accessing the camera's database.

[ACCESS GRANTED…]

"It still has power even down here after all this time?" Sharptooth muttered as they watched Little Bird reveal several options for them.

 _[It looks like the cameras that were used to monitor the subways are offline due to lack of power, so we can't do anything with them… but they still seem to be connected to a backup generator.]_ The Commander said as he examined the options. _[If we can locate the generator and turn on the cameras, we can get a full map of our surroundings and figure a way out of this trap. At the very least I can keep track of our pursuers…]_

At that moment they heard the sound of the tanks approaching in the distance.

 _[Though for now, let's get going Sharks!]_ He ordered, telling them all to run via their helmets again.

They all began running again, just as the first tank rounded the corner.

 **[Oh 'XCOM'… where are you?]** They heard over the voice comms. **[I know you're here, come out! I've got a 'present' for ya… its nice and shiny and will give you a swift, painless death!]**

 _[My brain to shut them out of our comms, and shut them up.]_ He muttered, still unable to find a frequency that he and his Sharks could use that they couldn't tap into.

Unfortunately, a moment later he wished he had paid more attention to his surroundings, as they rounded a corner and came face to face with one of the tanks.

 **[Ooooh would you look at this!]** It said warmly. **[Mmmhmmm, XCOM spotted at my 'present' location… it must be my birthday! Time to blow out the CANDLES!]**

His Sharks ducked right away, just as he opened fire with a powerful salvo that blasted the wall behind them. _[Open Fire!]_ He ordered.

Instantly all of his Sharks took aim and counter attacked, and the tank began to spark as their combined firepower broke through the armor and attacked the weaker inside.

 **[Goh… ugh… GAAAR!]** It yelled in pain before it exploded before them.

 **[Gaaaaaraaaaah!]** Several simultaneous shouts voiced over the comms, each one just like the tank they destroyed.

 _[Wait… they… they 'feel' pain?]_ He asked himself. _[Not just their own pain, but each other's pain? That's not possible unless…]_

Before he could think he heard the roar of a tank rushing toward them, and he ordered his Sharks to run again.

They continued along the tunnel before they came across a fork. From either side he heard the sounds of Advent Tanks approaching, trying to cut them off. No matter which way they went, there would be an Advent Tank to contend with.

 **[I am going to 'liquify' you meatbags the instant I spot you!]** One of their attackers yelled furiously over the comms.

He and his Sharks looked frantically for a way out, and just at the last second Puppy spotted a small opening embedded into the wall, just wide enough for them to slip into.

They climbed in two by two, and just as Mercy's tail slid up to hide in the cramped alcove the tanks showed up.

 **[What… where did they go?]** One of them yelled.

 **[Scanning…]** Another said.

They all waited quietly, seven of them with hearts racing and beating, hoping they didn't think to look up.

 **[Nothing!]**

 **[Where the hell did they go?]**

 **[Grrraaaaaaaaagh!]**

One of the tanks began firing randomly at sections of wall, and one seemed to have hit a support beam embedded into the wall, causing a small collapse of rubble above them.

 **[Careful you idiot! You almost buried us!]**

 **[Who are you calling an idiot, idiot!?]**

 **[Both of you are idiots… spread out, search the area, they can't have gone far and they can't get out!]**

He heard the tanks leaving and had Puppy peer out to check and see if they were all gone.

"All clear!" She muttered quietly.

They climbed out of the alcove and began to catch their breath again.

"Ugh…" Puppy moaned, just as her stomach let out a growl. "I'm starving… how long have we been on this mission Commander?"

 _[Nearly four hours now…]_ He said.

"Four hours… our Gremlins can't last longer than five Commander." Eagleeye said as Little Bird floated to the ground and rest there, conserving energy again.

"Forget your Gremlins, what about the Commander's?" Sharptooth asked. "You can't be fairing any better than theirs Commander."

 _[I am… starting to run low…]_ He muttered, not commenting that he was barely at twelve percent charge left.

"So… what do we do?" Falcon asked calmly.

He glanced around again, and tried to think, before his eyes examined the small pile of rubble that had been caused by a giant hole in a side of the tunnel, where they could see one of the support beams for the sewer systems had been destroyed.

 _[That's it…]_ He said to them. _[I know how to break this siege, 'and' get us out of here, and prevent them from reorganizing their net at the same time.]_

"How we ganna do that?" T-Rex asked. "This place is pretty locked down. More locked down then my sister's diary!"

 _[We blow up the support beams keeping the city above us 'above' us.]_ He said. _[If just this one can cause a near cave in here, imagine if we blew up seven or eight more in a single area? We bring a section of the city down and then we can use the rubble to climb out, call the Skyranger to evac us, and get out! That will also bring down the AA Sectopods as well, preventing them from intercepting us!]_

" **That… could work…"** Mercy hissed hopefully.

"Slight problem though… no 'demolitions' we can use." Sharptooth grunted.

"Not really, I think we can make use of our 'friends'." Eagleeye said.

 _[He's right, our pursuers are not exactly the calmest, coolest, most collected individuals we've encountered so far. It seems anything makes them mad enough they'll just throw a fit and shoot anything they want. All we need do is get them to blow up the support beams for us… shouldn't be too hard.]_

"So… how are we going to do that?" Puppy asked while holding her stomach with one free hand. "You know… without bringing the whole city down on us at the same time?"

 _[I don't know… but if I can get access to a map, maybe I can think of a way.]_ He said.

It wasn't the best of plans, blow up the things keeping the city above them from falling on them wasn't the smartest idea. But it was the only thing he could think of without spending the next three hours dodging Advent Weapons, and still have enough time to rescue the Western American resistance cell.

That was also assuming he 'had' 3 hours, which he didn't. At most his Gremlin had another thirty minutes of power left before it shut down.

He was running out of time and options…

.

.

.

Author's Notes

=For those wondering why it took so long to make this chapter, life has hit me hard, and I mean 'hard'. Not only that, but its becoming harder and harder to stay motivated! I want to write the story so much, but its becoming harder to stay motivated 'to' write it. I wish I could 'write' my stories as a job… but I cant… and I have life stuff to deal with~=

=I'll try my best, but the updates will be slower than when I used to update. But please… try to stay with me until then!=


	10. Chapter 9

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **Humans… such a strange creature you are among the stars…"** She hissed while staring at her plasma pistol. **"As a species you are capable of so much… as individuals you seem to do so little… and only when backed into a corner do you reveal the fangs and claws that you conceal behind your… 'soft' flesh."**

She glances away from the gun to look back at you with a smirk.

" **When backed into a corner, your kind becomes desperate, and when forced to the edge you fight all the more fiercely. For my kind, we are quicker to surrender… to obey, to concede…"**

" **It is no wonder then why 'he' and 'I' make the perfect team then?"** She said with a grin.

=Chapter 9, Breaking Point=

(Bellona's PoV)

Bellona sat in the Skyranger alone, in her previous mission attire and with a large backpack carrying supplies strapped to her.

She sat waiting to be dropped off at the extreme edge of the AA Sectopod's range, where she would make her way into the abandoned city and locate a means into the underground. Her mission was simple, locate and resupply the Land Sharks Squad, as well as the Hierarch Father, and remain with him and obey his orders for the duration of their mission.

The task was simple, all she need do was 'find' him.

Suddenly the screen lit up and her Hierarch Mother's face appeared.

 **{Bellona, my daughter… there is little time for a proper briefing for you… the Father, my 'friend'… is trapped underground with almost no power and ammunition left for his forces and their Gremlins. Your task is thus… infiltrate the city, locate a means of entering the underground area and resupply them.}** She declared. **{Your time is limited, at most you have fifteen minutes before his power expires, and his Gremlin goes offline. Don't you 'dare' let him die before that time limit expires…}**

With that the screen turned off and lights turned on, indicating that she had reached the drop point.

{Alrighty new girl, we're in the pipe, five by five, don't let the door hit you on the way out!} The pilot said.

She nodded and got up and felt the Skyranger lurch to a stop. The door then opened and she charged, leapt into the night air, and summersaulted toward the ground.

' _ **Fifteen minutes… can I find my father in so little time?'**_ She thought as she ran toward the city without fear or concern for what awaited her.

 _[This is Central, we've managed to penetrate whatever it is they are using to block our communications, at least partially, and we've located an access point into the sewer system that you can use.]_ Central said to her via her helmet coms. _[We're marking it on your visor, once you gain entry you'll be on your own when it comes to locating the Commander and the Sharks. Get in there and reinforce them!]_

Through her visor she saw the marker and moved straight toward it, moving as swiftly as her feet permitted, pushing her extensively modified body as fast as it could go.

She could move 2.5 times faster than even the most fit XCOM Agent, and she pushed her leg muscles to their extreme speed, almost ignoring the slight sensation of pain they were starting to feel.

It was only minor, about as noticeable as a 'mosquito' bite, but she did notice it.

One minute into her run she reached the city and leapt up to the roof of a ten-story building and began jumping from roof to roof.

As she jumped across two roofs she saw in-passing an air drone flash her with a spotlight for a moment before she jumped out of sight.

 **[What was that…]** A voice declared over her intercom.

She ignored it and continued jumping from roof to roof, heading straight to her destination.

 **[Recon Drone KB-91, move to Grid Zeta 7-3!]**

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed another air drone move in her path to the sewer entrance, but she continued onward as her time limit was reduced to thirteen minutes.

Moments later she ran underneath the spotlight and this time it tracked her for a good two seconds before she leapt out of sight by jumping to another roof.

 **[Enemy reinforcements?]** The mechanical voice declared. **[But that isn't possible, its moving too fast… nobody, human or Viper can move that fast. In any case… Recon Drones KB-55, BT-21, and JU-62, move to Grid Zeta-3-1, intercept whoever that is and eliminate them!]**

 _[Watch out, you have incoming!]_ Central said, but she ignored him, she knew her orders.

Get underground, locate the father, serve the father until further notice.

All else was irrelevant, even her own life, thus her orders from her Hierarch Mother.

So, when three Aerial Drones moved in her path and attempted to intercept her, she simply dodged all the plasma bolts and leapt right past them. They barely had time to track her for three seconds before she was out of their range.

 **[Impossible… nothing XCOM has can move** _ **that**_ **fast! AA Sectopod, move to Grid Zeta 2-2!]**

She watched as she leapt across a street and onto the last stretch of buildings, but as she did a Sectopod began to walk 'through' a section of the abandoned building and it began to collapse. Still she was unconcerned as she leapt onto the Sectopod's main body, jumped off it, and performed a perfect summersault before rolling to the ground and heading toward her destination, a manhole cover.

 **[Oh no you don't!]** The voice said, and she heard the rumble of a building nearby collapsing, causing her to turn and see a massive Sectopod charging through it to lock weapons on her. **[You are not escaping that easily!]**

She ignored it and focused on her objective, knowing that she had only twelve minutes left. She took a grenade from her belt and tossed it at the manhole cover, and it blew up seconds later to create her entrance. Instantly she ran toward it, dodging plasma bolts from the Sectopod despite them being aimed by four anti-personnel plasma cannons, aided by laser guided sights that were locked on her the entire time. She ran, dodged, leapt and tumbled before she jumped high into the air and dove straight down into the sewers feet first.

(Central's PoV)

"She sure moves fast…" He muttered as the whole trip from drop off to the sewer entrance took no more than three minutes.

" **We have little time left, I have given Bellona fifteen minutes from the moment she dropped off, to locate and find the Commander and his Sharks."** The head Viper hissed as she watched the screen.

"But how will she locate the Commander?" He asked her.

The Hierarch Mother had been looming over the holomap and tracking Bellona's Progress from the moment she left the Avenger. She had also pulled Bellona aside and given her 'specific' orders that only she knew of.

" **I don't know how she will find him, but at this point, our only hope is that she can find him quickly…"** She hissed back to him. **"If we lose him your kind will be able to move on in time, but my species is not so easy to adapt. Once a Hierarch Mother names a Father, they are immediately expected to live a long life to guide us with the Mother. If we lose him so soon… I do not know if my daughters will be able to recover…"**

They were quiet for a few seconds while they waited for the remainder of the fifteen minutes to pass, hoping that the Commander's squad would contact them.

" **Perhaps I should consider asking my friend to… alter Bellona, so as to be able to sense living objects through walls."** He heard her hiss to herself.

(Commander's PoV)

"So… Commander… explain to me why 'I'm' the one carrying the Gremlins again?" Puppy muttered as they trudged down yet another passageway.

 _[Because the Gremlins need to conserve what little power they have in case we need to fight.]_ He responded instantly.

"Okay… but how come I'm carrying 'you' as well in my arms?" She asked grudgingly as she held not only Eagleeye's Gremlin, but also her own below him.

They had been walking for the last fifteen minutes through the sewer systems trying to find the Generator Room, following old signs and arrows that hopefully would lead them to the generator room. While all the other Sharks were carrying their weapons though, Puppy was ordered to carry all the Gremlins, so as to conserve what energy they had left. This also included what energy his Gremlin had because he too had almost no energy left to remain operational.

Since Puppy was by far the least threatening of the Sharks, including the fact that she had the lowest kill count among all the XCOM operatives, she was the one chosen to carry all three Gremlins.

 _[Puppy, do I have to explain 'everything' I decide on to you?]_ He asked her.

"Well no, but still…" She muttered as they turned a corner. "How come its always 'me'?"

"Stop bitching Puppy, my stomach and my feet aren't in the mood for your moaning and groaning…" Sharptooth growled from up front.

"Keep it down also, no idea where those Tank AI's are or when they're going to show up." Eagleeye said.

"They been reeeeal quiet since we last saw em." T-Rex muttered as he peaked around a corner and signaled everyone that it was clear. "Before they were chatter boxes, now they aint saying a peep."

 _[That is weird… I thought they would be talking… they certainly didn't stop yelling over trivial things like 'not being able to find us' before.]_

*Flashback, 10 minutes ago*

 **[I CAN'T FIND THEM ANYWHERE!]** They heard one of the AI's yell furiously over their comms, all but deafening them.

 **[Well what do you want 'US' to do about it?]**

 **[We should have found them by now!]**

 **[I've combed over the same section of sewers where they were last spotted, and yet not a 'thing'! Not even that 'pipsqueak'!]**

Trying to ignore the constant arguing that had been going on between these AI tanks was the Commander, who was currently watching as multiples of the AI tanks converged on the same location below him, barely held up by Hawkeye and Mercy while they and the others hid in another overpass similar to the one they had hidden in when they lost their pursuers the first time.

 **[Well keep searching!]** Another one yelled.

 _[Do they 'ever' shut up?]_ He said quietly. _[They act more like… emotional teenagers than 'artificial intelligences'…]_

 **[We already know the plan, you don't need to remind us!]**

 **[Then resume our search parama…]** One was saying before suddenly stopping.

As one they all turned and looked to their left, as if something had gotten their attention. They stayed that way for a full minute before, again as one, they all headed down a corridor together with speed.

As if they were in a hurry to get somewhere.

 _[Why the rush, are we not a priority anymore?]_ He asked quietly, before signaling the coast was clear.

*Present time*

 _[I don't understand it, before they were so bent on locating us, and blaring over the coms everything they were saying and thinking. They didn't even care that we could hear them, and yet now, suddenly, they're silent as the grave?]_ He thought out loud as they reached the end of the passageway and entered the backup generator room. _[Finally… some luck at last.]_

The generator room was abandoned just like everything else they'd found, but unlike the city upstairs, it seemed that being underground and left alone had served this backup generator room some good fortune. Though the generator was old by the technology's time, and far outdated by their standards, it still looked to be in working condition.

It was an old gasoline powered generator, barely larger than SHIV, but it would do to bring the power back on enough for the Camera system.

 _[Sharks, spread out, look for some gasoline and a camera. If I'm right they would have a small supply near the generator in case of emergency, and a camera to watch this area from the control center.]_ He ordered. _[Puppy, just put me and the other Gremlins down…]_

"Got it!" She groaned before heavily dropping him and the other Gremlins.

 _[Easy… I think something just moved in my chassis!]_

"Sorry sir…" She panted heavily while trying to catch her breath.

Half a minute of waiting and Falcon reported finding a camera in a corner of the room, and Mercy discovered with Hawkeye what looked like a gas container.

"Not much in it Commander." Hawkeye said as he pulled the half full container to the generator to fill it up.

 _[It'll do to give me camera access at least.]_ He said. _[Start up the generator for now.]_

"Hey, I found a map!" Sharptooth called out, before trudging over to them with a schematic in her hands.

"That's something at least!" Puppy piped up.

 _[Alright, let's see where we are…]_ He said as Sharptooth undid the schematic and blew dust everywhere. _[Okay… we're at… 'this' junction here… so… ugh… let's see…]_

He tried his best to read the schematic like a map, but for some reason he just couldn't comprehend it. All he knew was 'where' they were, and try as he might, he just couldn't find any spots that they could use to trigger his plan to escape this trap.

 _[If only I could 'talk' to Shen… she could pinpoint the locations we need to hit. Some of these support beams are merely supports for primary support beams, but this schematic doesn't specify which beams we'd need to hit…]_ He said. _[There are only seven of you, I'd need to split you up into seven locations to have a hope of triggering this collapse. But I can't tell which ones I'd need to send us to… or even if these areas are close enough to the city's edge to collapse the buildings upstairs AND destroy the AA Sectopods.]_

Suddenly they heard the sound of the generator coming to life, sputtering and emitting a rancid smell along with smoke. At the same time, they saw a string of lights turn on above them.

"And Hawkeye said, let there be even 'more' bad smell to go with the bad air down here!" Hawkeye called out happily.

" **Is that really good thing?"** Mercy hissed in confusion, her sensitive nose scrunched in pain.

"Only if you enjoy diesel fuel and the smell of burning gasoline..." Sharptooth said.

 _[Eagleeye, use little bird and have it hack into the camera, see what you can give me!]_ He ordered.

Eagleeye nodded and turned on little bird, and then signaled it to hack into the camera. The Gremlin took off and flew to the camera before hacking in with ease.

{Access Granted}

He looked through the Gremlin's vision and saw only 1 option, gain access to the camera system.

So, he did, and instantly what he saw shocked him beyond belief.

 _[No way…]_ He muttered, completely forgetting about his Sharks.

"What is it?" Sharptooth asked.

Ignoring Sharptooth's question he began dialing through his various comm frequencies, looking for one that worked.

"What is it?" Puppy asked again.

Just after she asked he found one that worked and connected to her.

 _[Take a left at the next junction!]_ He ordered.

"What are you talking about, there is no left junction…" Eagleeye said in confusion now.

 _[On your right, turn now!]_ He ordered again, switching to another camera.

"Still confused here…" Puppy muttered.

 _[Straight forward now!]_ He said.

Seconds later they all heard heavy footsteps as something was running toward them from the tunnel they just left, and soon they all saw what it was.

A very fast-moving individual wearing civilian clothing and Kevlar armor, with golden glowing veins that were barely visible in the distance, with her mouth covered by a bandana and her golden hair wrapped in a bundle held barely by another bandana wrapped over her head.

Bellona.

" **Sister!"** Mercy hissed in amazement as Bellona stopped with perfect ease and grace in front of them.

"Damn are you a sight for sore eyes girl!" T-Rex called out happily.

Even in the grime and foul smelling underground sewer system of an abandoned city, Bellona still moved and looked as if she were a goddess in human/snake hybrid form. The second she slowed down she did a full 360* turn, reaching around her back and pulling a massive pack off and throwing it to the floor. In the same motion she opened said pack and pulled out a large battery with several charging wires attached to it. After pulling it out and placing the charging pack on the ground she instantly pulled out an antenna attached to a headset and threw it to Sharptooth who caught it in surprise.

" **Forgive me for my lateness Father, but it took me longer to find you than I hoped."** Bellona said as she bowed to him before picking him up and plugging a charger into his Gremlin.

 _[I take it that you have been searching for us for a while?]_ He asked.

" **My mission has only lasted fourteen minutes and seven seconds from the moment I was deployed to locating you."** Bellona answered. **"I ran as fast as I could… I was beginning to fear that I would not find you in the time I was given. I was wandering this underground maze for any trace of you. If you did not communicate with me I fear I would not have found you…"**

" **What of the AI Tanks that we encountered down here?"** Mercy hissed. **"Did you encounter any of them?"**

" **Yes, they have been following me for eleven minutes my 'superior' sister."** Bellona said with a bow to Mercy. **"They attempted many times to kill me, but each time I evaded them and searched for you. They even attempted to collapse a tunnel around me but I managed to elude them."**

"Wait wait wait wait wait a moment…" Puppy called out as she walked toward Bellona. "You're telling me that you were deployed… somewhere outside the range of the AA Sectopods… you 'ran' from the drop off 'to' the city… got past all the enemy units patrolling up there… and searched for us down here without knowing where we were… while also under fire from those AI Tanks… in under 'fifteen minutes'?"

" **Actually, it took me three minutes to reach an entrance from where I was dropped off, and it took me a little longer because I had to jump from roof to roof while also being followed and under fire from the patrolling units above ground."** Bellona said in a matter of fact tone. **"After that I began my search down here for your squad, but mere moments after I began I was targeted by those tanks, and spent the next eleven minutes searching with them following me the entire time attempting to stop me."**

Everyone just stared at Bellona as she told them the information with a straight face.

" **Is something wrong? Did I not move fast enough? Should I have run faster?"**

"Are your feet tired sista?" T-Rex asked her.

Bellona glanced down at her feet before answering. **"I am feeling a… uh… what is word… 'tingling'… yes, tingling sensation in them. Is that what you mean?"**

At those words Puppy sat down with dumbfounded look on her face. "You crossed half the city while under fire and searched probably half the city's sewers in the same amount of time it took us to cross a 'street'…" She said. "Yea… I think you're just a 'little' tired…"

 _[Alright enough chatter!]_ He said to them, getting all their attention. _[We have little time before those AI tanks find us here, once they see all the lights on they'll narrow our position down. Puppy, Eagleeye, plug in your Gremlins and charge them to full power! Bellona, what else did you bring besides this battery, I assume you didn't just bring these two items.]_

Bellona went to the pack and emptied it of its contents: several munition's packs for their weapons, a set of grenade replacements for each of them, and finally…

"Are those MRE's?" Eagleeye asked as she pulled out several small sealed bags.

" **They were all that could be prepared in the little time I had before I was loaded onto the Skyranger."** Bellona replied.

"These are better than starving… trust me." Falcon said calmly as he picked one up with his Class insignia.

Within a few minutes all of them were eating their MRE's, with Puppy moaning happily as she ate her PBJ Cracker Sandwich.

"Oh, thank you heavens above for this glorious feast fit for the gods…" She muttered as she finished her first and began chowing on her second.

"As much as I like the reprieve, what are we going to do Commander?" Sharptooth asked as she ate her own sandwich.

While they rested and ate, as well as re-armed, he had Bellona work with the head-piece equipment she had brought with her, having her fiddle with it and work it to figure out what it was for.

 _[With any luck I'll have an answer for you.]_ He said. _[Switch to Frequency six, six, seven, five point two, zero, four.]_

She nodded and obeyed.

Seconds later the static began to settle down and soon he spoke up, _[Central, come in, do you read me?]_

[Commander, I was beginning to think Bellona wouldn't make it in time.] Central said, sounding relieved.

 **[Enough of that Central, we have bigger problems as you know…]** Amalie suddenly interrupted. **[My friend, we have a problem… as of ten minutes ago, the fleet of Advent Transports diverted their course… they've changed targets and are now landing outside of the location your people refer to as… what was it called 'Nest'?]**

[Indeed Commander, they changed course and landed just outside of the Nest, I don't know why they suddenly changed course but they sure landed in a hurry.] Central resumed. [The resistance forces spotted them landing in a circular pattern just outside of the resistance forces' home base.]

 _[I don't get it, they were heading for West America, now they're heading for East America…]_ He said. _[Why the sudden interest in changing their plans... what could have changed so quickly to…]_

He looked at Bellona who was silently waiting for more instructions from him.

 _[That's it… they've realized I gained reinforcements and they couldn't stop it… it's not 'their' plans that didn't change, it's the playing field that's changed. They weren't expecting me to gain reinforcements of any kind… so they had to change their strategy.]_

 **[I suspect that as well, but if so then we now have even 'less' time then we did before.]** Amalie said. **[If these AI are as clever and powerful as the fall of South Africa suggests, then there is no way the Nest will survive an assault unless 'we' intervene. The only advantage we have now is that their rushed deployment has warned the resistance cell, and they are ready for them.]**

 _[Then we have no choice, Central, prep the Water Dragons and get them to the Nest.]_ He ordered.

[But Commander, if we send the Dragons while you are still trapped there, then who will be in command.]

 _[I'll command them the same way I've been commanding the Land Sharks for now, I'll look through their helmet cameras and visors to be able to command them.]_

[Commander, I must stress that I have no idea how strong this connection we have is.] Shen suddenly interjected. [This connection we have now is stable but if we push it between here and the nest, there is no way I can guarantee the stability of the connection, or that we can maintain or...]

 _[We have no choice, it's as we believe, if we don't do something, the resistance cells have no hope against these AI generals. They have greater weapons and greater firepower than any resistance cell can handle. Without us they're dead!]_

[Alright, I'll see what I can do to strengthen the connection from this end… we'll keep you informed until then.]

 _[In the meantime, Shen, I have an idea to bring down this trap, but I require you to analyze the schematic of the sewer system to find the weak points we need to hit.]_ He said. _[I need to bring down a section of the city, enough to take down a portion of their AA Net. With Bellona here, I have eight possible positions we can blow up, but I need to get them in position to do that.]_

[Understood Commander, I'll get right on it!] Shen said.

With that he closed the link and floated up to levitate. All three of the Gremlins had fully recharged now and the Sharks had all eaten something to settle their stomachs down. With their grenades replenished they were now ready to take on the AI tanks.

 _[Let's move Sharks!]_

(Mercy's PoV)

" **Where are we going?"** She asked as they began to leave, noticeably the way that Bellona had arrived from.

 _[We are going to find our 'friends'.]_ He said. _[If this plan is to work we need them to start chasing and firing at us.]_

"How come I don't like the sounds of that last part…" Puppy piped in.

Mercy was in agreement with Puppy, she did not like the idea of finding their attackers just to have them chase them and shoot at them. It seemed highly risky.

"If we're going to pull that off Commander, we'll need to split up and head throughout the sewer system." Hawkeye said.

 _[I have a full map of the sewer system thanks to those schematics, so by using your positions I'll be able to keep track of where to go. I'm updating your visors and eye pieces with a map now, all I need now is for Shen to give me coordinates.]_

On cue she pulled her own helmet visor down and watched as a small miniature map appeared before her eyes. It mirrored the schematic her Shark sister 'Sharptooth' found. She even saw where she and the other Sharks were located, but what it lacked were the locations of where the AI tanks were.

 _[Let's go, move toward grid J-12 everyone.]_

" **Yes Sir."** She hissed.

"Got it!" Hawkeye said beside her.

Everyone else moved signaled they heard the command and moved forward through the tunnel.

While they walked she turned to her sister Bellona who had replaced her bandana on her mouth and had removed her lens-goggles. Her extra sensitive eyes were not being harmed by the low leveled light that the light bulbs were producing above them, and so she had removed the goggles to take full advantage of her sight.

" **Sister, were you injured in searching for us?"** She asked Bellona.

" **No, my 'superior' sister."** Bellona answered kindly. **"They attempted to fire upon me, but all their attempts failed because I saw their attacks. If I can see the weapon's fired upon me, I can dodge them. My body is modified to be able to move intricately and fluidly."**

" **Those are impressive modifications…"** She hissed back in awe. **"Perhaps… I should ask for my body to be modified… if what you can do is to be an example."**

" **No… do not my sister…"** Bellona hissed quietly, before leaning closer to her to whisper. **"The mother has begged 'all' her daughters like you to avoid the procedure… she wishes you and others of the superior gene to keep your genes 'pure' for the future of our species. She does not want our future generations to be… tainted… by genetic modifications."**

" **But… what if… we 'breed' with** _ **'them'**_ **?"** She hissed back even more quietly, referring to humans as 'them'.

She was most interested in starting a family and raising her own batch of young with Hawkeye fathering them and was worried as to why her Hierarch Mother wanted her to avoid genetic modifications to keep their species' genetics pure for future generations.

" **The Mother wishes for her daughters of the superior gene to breed naturally, and let nature decide the future generation, she does not wish to sacrifice what nature would create naturally, by tainting it with nature creating something of 'artificial' parentage."** Bellona hissed sadly. **"Those birthed with a mother of the 'lesser gene' granted this gift… will be considered a 'new' species…"**

This news hit her greatly, much more than any other news she's received so far, even learning that her Hierarch Mother had been a secret Double Agent for the XCOM Commander since the moment she found he was still alive after the war didn't affect her like this bit of knowledge. Her Mother considered the young produced from her daughters of the lesser gene that were genetically modified to be a new 'species'? Why would she think that or even think to label them with such a thing, before even a single one had been produced?

Then her mind remembered, 'genetic modification'. Bellona's entire body, her genes, her whole being was modified from her DNA upward. She no longer even 'looked' Viper, only keeping a few traits. She was more of a super human than a genetically modified Viper by outward appearance. In order to be more effective in battle to free her sisters, with the added bonus of being able to reproduce, Bellona had allowed her entire genetic structure to change.

The Mother was right, who knows what kind of child Bellona would produce with a human, or Viper. They wouldn't even be 'human' by the same name of the species as their body's resembled, let alone Viper, with all of her genetic enhancements.

[Commander, I've got some intel for you.] Shen suddenly piped in over their comms, snapping her out of her thoughts.

(Commander's PoV)

 _[Lay it on me Shen, tell me you have a way to bring this place down.]_

[Yes Commander, I've located eight supporting beams for the section of city where Bellona entered in from, and your smack dab in the middle of it.]She said. [They're located at these coordinates, if you can get them to collapse then you'll cause that whole section of the city to collapse down, taking the AA Sectopods with them and clearing a path for the Skyranger to come in and pick you up.]

[The tricky part is getting out of the way, doesn't matter how fast you run, once that last beam goes the buildings above come down as well. You can safely destroy at most 'four' without the city collapsing, but once you destroy the fifth support beam the tunnels will start to cave in under the weight, and the seventh will trigger the collapse. You'll only have a short amount of time to get out of the way and destroy the eighth to bring it all down under 'your' terms. If you don't destroy that eighth that section of city wont collapse in the way you want it to.] Central said. [We estimate at most, 'three minutes' before total collapse to get to a safe spot. You can then climb the rubble and get out of there.]

 _[Understood… now let's get a move on.]_ The Commander said. _[What's the ETA for the Water Dragons to reach their operating area?]_

[ETA, ten minutes Sir, and we've already received a call for help. It seems C.X. 2 is leading the assault and has already pinned down the resistance civilians with Artillery shots. The rest of the Advent forces are beginning to encircle their position. They're trapped but holding their ground. They reported that C.X. 2 landed its forces quickly and began its assault almost the instant it hit the ground.]

 _[They were forced to attack early, otherwise that encirclement would already have been made and transmissions would be jammed.]_ The Commander said. _[Either that, or these two AI Sectopods aren't working together on the same plan…]_

That had to be it, when they were working 'together' their plans were in sync, their strategy and tactics were perfectly aligned. But it seems when they were separated and focusing on different battlefields, they could only operate within their realm of specialty. C.X. 2 declared that it had all the 'tactical' information regarding battle formats, whereas E.C. 1 possessed the 'strategic' information.

C.X. 2 only knew that it had to encircle and assault the resistance. It didn't know how to 'plan' the assault, which is why it was forced to pin down the resistance with its artillery cannon while it maneuvered its forces, instead of landing its forces after jamming transmissions to encircle and trap the resistance as the information about South Africa's demise stated they did.

If that were the case, then it would also explain why E.C. 1 couldn't stop Bellona even 'with' her genetic modifications. E.C. 1 knew it had keep him and the Sharks underground and prevent any escape. However, once Bellona came in the only thing it could really do was 'throw' units in her path and even itself to try and stop her. It knew strategy, but not 'tactics'.

 _[In any case, once the Water Dragons hit the ground, link me up with their helmet visors and eye pieces. I'll command them the same way I'm commanding the Sharks here.]_

[Understood Commander.] Central said.

He returned his attention to his surroundings as they came across a crossway.

 _[Alright let's split up, Puppy, Sharptooth and Falcon, head left toward grids K-5 and K-6. Eagleeye, T-Rex and Bellona, move to Grids N-9 and N-10. Mercy, Hawkeye with me toward C-8 and C-9.]_

"ROGER!" Everyone shouted in unison as they moved off in their separate directions.

As they separated he linked up with all eight of their visors and eye pieces and began to see all they were seeing. Though as he did, he began to have a hard time focusing on all eight perspectives. Despite the Gremlin giving him help, it was becoming harder and harder to focus and keep track of everything happening after nearly nine minutes of them running down the tunnels.

Especially as five seconds later two AI Tanks turned a corner they were about to reach.

 **[Wellllll look what I have here!]** One of them shouted over the comms.

 **[So now there's '8' of you to shoot, always happy to have more 'targets'!]** The other declared before both opened fire.

 _[Mercy to C-15, Hawkeye to C-20!]_ He commanded just as both tanks missed their shots, ordering both Hawkeye and Mercy to rubble.

" _Commander, we got company!"_ Sharptooth yelled.

He looked and began ordering them as well. _[Uh… Sharptooth to L-19, Puppy to L-14, Falcon to L-20! Puppy Fire upon the left one, Sharptooth the right one!]_

Suddenly Falcon turned and showed him a 'third' AI tank appear from a side tunnel.

"One of them has flanked my position!" He called out.

 **[Music to my eeeeears!]** The tank jeered before it launched a grenade at his position.

It exploded into a cloud of gas.

"Ugh… I think I've been… poisoned…"

 _[Return to position… move to Grid L-11… Puppy use a Medkit on Fal…]_

" _Father, I have spotted the enemy!"_ Bellona called out.

He looked through Bellona's visor and tried to focus while T-Rex and Eagleeye were forced to dodge weapon's fire as well.

"I'm getting pinned down here!" Hawkeye yelled as one of the AI tanks in front of him began suppressing fire on him.

" **I can't get clear shot!"** Mercy hissed as she too was pinned down by the other tank performing suppressing fire.

 _[I… uh… Bellona move forward to Grid… uh… O-3. Eagleeye and T-Rex to Grids O-4 and 6!]_

" **My Father wills it!"** Bellona cried as she ran forward as the three tanks in front of her were firing upon them.

However, the center tank changed its weapon, the weapon sliding into the body and being replaced by another weapon. The barrel of the weapon began rotating wildly, before it recoiled back.

Bellona charged forward regardless but was instantly forced back violently, as if she were shot by a plasma projectile.

" **UIgh… my chest… my body…"** She hissed painfully, clutching at her chest.

 **[Mmmmh so our guess was right, you 'can't' dodge some attacks.]** The Center tank called out. **[You can dodge any attack you can 'see', but if you can't see it, you can't dodge it.]**

 **[All units, switch to Sonic Cannons!]**

As one all the tanks rotated their plasma or kinetic cannons into their main bodies before rotating out a similar 'sonic cannon'.

 _[Hawkeye, launch a plasma grenade, Mercy, once Hawkeye uses it, fire on the Tank to the right. Puppy attempt to hack into the tank on the far right. Sharptooth hack in-… I mean… launch a plasma grenade on the left tank. T-Rex launch a… I mean shred… shred the tank on the left as well!]_

He was trying to focus on so many angles, trying to analyze the attacks as quickly as he could, but for some reason he was just having difficulty 'focusing'. If he tried to focus on one, he lost his attention on the others, which was something he couldn't afford. They had little time and they had to break through these tanks to reach their positions.

[Commander, don't mean to interrupt you but the Dragons have just landed and are awaiting your orders.]

 _[Patch their visors in to me…]_ He said.

Seconds later he began receiving '6' new signals from the Dragons who had just landed, and no sooner had he looked through, then did a massive artillery shell land right near them.

(Dragonfang's PoV)

"Waiting on orders sir!" He said over the comms.

This assault mission hadn't been like the others had started, he and the other Dragons hadn't landed more than a minute before they were instantly spotted and shelled.

Then just as he called over the comms for orders, Central piped in.

[This big guy is a massive Artillery Sectopod, you need to get into cover before that thing fires again.] He said. [Resistance forces are held up inside a building ahead of you, they have MEC units advancing on them and they need help protecting the civilians trapped inside! We can evac them once we clear out the MEC units nearby!]

"Good to know!" He called back as 'finally' the Commander gave them orders.

He had ordered them to move several grids forward and enter Overwatch, but that left them just barely out of range of the building, it would still be a sprint to reach.

As they all ran forward and took up defensive positions a pair of MHW Tanks rolled forward and turned to face them.

 **[XCOM forces spotted… probability of successful intervention… 45.21 percent likely… deploying counter intervention tactics… suppressing fire… locking onto coordinates…]**

The two tanks rotated their cannons it seemed and swapped to what looked like heavy repeater styled guns, before unleashing a storm of plasma bolts in a massively-wide pattern, suppressing them all from moving forward easily.

"We're getting pinned down here Commander!" He said, peeking over and noticing a pair of MEC units moving forward to join the tanks.

(Commander's PoV)

[I can't… uh…] He whispered as he turned from one visor to another, attempting to focus and plan.

While he was ordering the Dragons, the tanks pinning his Sharks had changed tactics and were using their sonic weapons including explosive grenades, causing damage to the tunnels and creating piles of rubble. Other tanks had showed up and took flanking positions as well, forcing him to now switch positions of his Sharks.

"They're flanking my position!" Sharptooth yelled as she ducked, avoiding a stream of kinetic attacks while trying to avoid the 'sonic' attacks.

" **My father, what are you orders?"** Bellona hissed, having recovered and was cowering behind a pile of rubble.

"E.T trying to crawl up my flank sir!" Eagleeye said as he took cover behind another pile to avoid being flanked.

"I'm running outa cover here sir!" Puppy yelled.

"Enemy reinforcements on the scene!" Hawkeye called out as another tank showed up behind the two he and Mercy were shooting at.

" **Orders Commander?"** Mercy hissed.

"We're pinned down sir, what are your orders?" Dragonfang from the Water Dragons called out halfway across the country.

He constantly shifted, trying to focus, but each time he did he was forced to swap vision, trying to come up with a strategy. But each time he tried the thought just seemed to slip and he couldn't focus enough to remember what he wanted to do. He thought at one point to have his Sharks just open fire, but when he did he remembered the Dragons were running out of time before C.X. 2 would open fire again. Yet when he wanted to have one of the Dragons launch a rocket to stop the suppressing fire, he was reminded also of the Sharks being surrounded on all sides by Tanks and their movements constantly being restricted.

Then of course the individual condition of each of his agents, all the data they were sending him, their heart rates, their tones, their ammo and grenade uses even medkits and Gremlin charges. All of it, pouring into his Gremlin…

 _[I can't… too much… too much… can't… focus…]_ He thought, trying to do 'everything' at once.

.

.

.

=authors notes=

My oh my what is happening here, it seems our commander is having 'memory' problems, I wonder why that is.

I thank you all for loving this… and please I ask you to be patient, its hard to make these chapters and keep the will and drive to write them while also writing my other stories.

So before I go, I'll leave you with 2 things, one E.C. 1 and C.X. 2 as well as 'D.L. Infinity' are the 'Chosen Ones' of my story, as the chosen are in the games. That's why I haven't gone into the war of the chosen storyline. I had these characters in mind long before the war of the chosen, but since that came out, figured might as well put these 3 as the main enemy bad guys aside from the obvious elders.

These 3 are super ais, and don't let em fool you, they aren't like Amalie who simply played a part but also planned her rebellion. Amalie hid her intentions behind her actions with the Commander helping to hide them. She did the Elder's Will but didn't exactly make sure to fully leave XCOM with no options.

These 3 however, have a plan, and they aren't messing around.

Also… if anyon wants to ask Amalie a question for the 'interviews' at the beginning of each chapter, by all means, include a question for her in a review if you wish… but just remember, this is Amalie, no assurance that you'll get the answer you want/hope for.

Or maybe you 'want' that answer' ;)


	11. Chapter 10

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **Oh, you have 'questions' for me… off the record?"** She asks you with a grin. **"Well, if you insist, ask away~…"**

You ask your questions.

" **What kind of future do I see myself with my 'friend'… oh I imagine a future… where we can both live freely and away from all those who would bother us."** She hisses warmly, before grinning slyly. **"And uh… where we can get down to… 'personal' business, if you catch my drift~."**

She thinks for a moment before looking back to you.

" **I honestly thought for a moment of turning him into a male viper via genetics… but I chose against that idea because of how he treated me as a child. Even if he had no idea I was naked at the time, I found his human body fascinating as he no doubt finds my body."**

She twirls her pistol for a moment before stopping to answer.

" **There was… a few missions… I accidentally killed his forces without wanting to."** She said with a raised eyebrow. **"It was not my fault, he rarely contacted me, I had to play my part while undercover!"**

= Chapter 10, Breakthrough =

(Amalie's PoV)

Amalie watched from the command bridge as her friend continued to struggle, acting very out of the ordinary from what she remembered. She remembered him for making strategical decisions well in advance of his opponents, even if one of them was 'her' and they were simply playing a part for the Elders and Advent, and the whole world to see. She may have been secretly aiding him, but she hardly let him get off 'for free'.

Yet despite his attention being split on two fronts, she was watching him struggle to make even 'basic' commands.

' _ **The Gremlin should be more than adequate to split his attention between the two battlefields, the Avalon Facility mission more than demonstrated his capabilities.'**_ She thought nervously. _**'What is going on here?'**_

She watched the map and the situation reports of all the XCOM Operatives, observing how their positions were getting worse.

The Land Sharks were now split up into three separate battle points trying to reach their objectives, taking fire from multiple flanks and unable to make headway against the AI Tanks. As for the just landed Water Dragons, they were now pinned down by two MHW Tanks while C.X. 2 was locking onto their positions. If he didn't do something soon then there would be casualties.

"Commander, our forces are getting overwhelmed, we need to do something now, or both of these missions are going to go to hell real fast!" Central yelled.

 _[I… I can't… focus!]_ He stuttered. _[Can't think clearly…]_

 **[Beeeebeeebeeebeeep]** Rover, Shen's personal Gremlin began beeping as it flashed some signals to her.

"What is it Rover?" She asked instantly.

Rover began flashing different colored lights using its optics, apparently it was something only Shen could understand because Amalie had no clue what the little machine was saying.

"Oh no, this is bad…" Shen muttered. "According to Rover, the Commander's Gremlin has reached its memory limit. His Gremlin can't absorb any more information."

"What do you mean?" Central asked instantly.

"The amount of data his Gremlin can absorb has reached its maximum, we both knew that as long as he was stuck in that Gremlin this was a risk, but even so, this shouldn't be happening!" Shen said as she started tapping her datapad. "He should have at least a few more months' worth of memory to work with, but according to this he's reached his limit and now his Gremlin can't take anymore!"

"In ENGLISH!" He yelled back.

 **[Target lock achieved… firing main cannon.]** C.X. 2 declared.

Amalie snapped, she opened her mouth and flung her tongue out, wrapping it around Central's headset and pulled it to her, instantly snapping it to her mouth.

" **Water Dragon's squad move to positions L-4, B-4, C-3, D-4, P-5 and C5 NOW!"**

(Dragonfang's PoV)

After hearing the orders given, and not hearing anything else on the comm from the Commander, he took the chance and signaled the other Dragons to move to those positions. They all hurdled over their cover and ran to those positions, low tree stumps and broken-down ruins of old buildings. Seconds later the area they were sitting in got shelled and obliterated, and the spot where they had been was now nothing more than a smoldering crater.

 **[Targets have escaped… recalibrating target lock…]**

-Bzzzzzzzzzzt-

Meanwhile the two tanks were still unleashing suppressing fire, their shots having missed and now they were performing new suppression fire.

 _ **[Deepfang, target the tank on the left with Shredder Fire!]**_ The Voice declared over the coms. _**[Ripper, perform a Null Lance on the Tank on the right!]**_

"Shredding the target!" Deepfang yelled, leaning over his cover and unleashing a storm of plasma bolts, causing the tank that was firing on his Technician.

"My mind is my Weapon!" His team's Psi Operative yelled, targeting the Tank that was suppressing one of his team's Grenadiers.

As both the shredder fire, and the psionic attack connected, the two tanks were temporarily stopped in their attacks.

 _ **[Dragonfang, fire a rocket in between the two tanks at position J-19!]**_ The voice said now. _**[Everyone else move to positions T-3, I-15, and P-15!]**_

"Here, CATCH!" He yelled as he raised his arm-mounted rocket and launched it between the two tanks.

It flew straight and true, exploding on impact and erupting into a miniature explosion which caused both tanks to shatter. Immediately after his fellow Grenadier and two Technicians raced toward the new location position.

 **[Target locked… preparing to fire…]**

 _ **[Dragonfang, move to position P-2, now!]**_

He instantly moved and was glad he did, because the second he reached a low hanging building that gave him cover, the tree stump he was sitting behind had blown up, leaving yet another smoldering crater.

' _That was too close…'_ He thought.

(Amalie's PoV)

She watched the map and screen where the Dragons were fighting, looking at every detail she could and trying to absorb as much as possible. These humans were not her daughters and as such she could not control them as precisely, yet she also knew how 'he' would order them. The only question was 'why' he was not ordering them like he used to?

" **Central… connect me with my friend…"** She hissed as she continued to focus on the Water Dragons.

"Fine, do it!" Central yelled behind her.

Seconds later she got a nod from a deck hand and spoke. **"My friend, focus on the Land Sharks and your objective to escape… leave the Water Dragons and the mission to protect the Nest to me."** She hissed calmly. **"These AI's are dividing our forces which is affecting your command performance, and we must divide our attention to match them…"**

There was silence as she waited his response.

If he refused to relinquish control, she would have to obey, he was in Command, not her. She was simply a 'guest' aboard their vessel and had no more command authority than Netra did. If she was told to, then she would simply have to stand by and watch.

 _[Central… Amalie will… take command until…]_ He responded, though each word sounded like a struggle for him.

"Understood sir, just get out of that trap and get back to us in one piece!" Central said.

 _[Shen… sever my connection to the Dragons… I need to focus…]_

"Already on it, and please sir, get those support pillars down fast, we can't get you out while those AA Sectopods are still running around."

(Commander's PoV)

[Understood…] He said as he disconnected from the Water Dragons, trusting Amalie to command them while he focused on the Land Sharks.

He tried to examine all of them at the same time, but it was becoming impossible to focus despite severing his vision of the Water Dragons. Every time he tried to focus on just 'one' of them, while being aware of the others, the tiniest details just sprang up and tried to grab his attention.

[No… no focus… can't do it all at once, that's obvious now.] He muttered. [So, what do I 'do', I feel like I can't do anything!]

As he thought that, an explosion occurred right next to him as he took cover behind Hawkeye.

[No… not the time… we have to get out of here… can't stay… think.] He muttered to himself. [Okay, so if I can't command all at once, then just one at a time. Can't believe I have to do this, but desperate times call for desperate measures… back to basics!]

With that he shut off his camera connections to all but 'one' of the Landsharks, focusing on Mercy and Hawkeye.

Looking through Hawkeye he saw that they were surrounded on two sides with rubble providing cover against four of these AI tanks. The crossfire they were creating was out of hand as if he tried to move them to use cover against one group, the other would have a clear line of sight for a flank shot.

 _[Right… so first… sever their line of sight…]_ He thought. _[If I remember… this sewer system isn't exactly stable, an explosion positioned just right will cause a cave in easily. If I grenade that spot just between us and one of the tanks, it will cause a cave in that will cut them off…]_

He checked Hawkeye's loadout and saw he only had two grenades, and Mercy had none.

 _[Make it count… can't calculate the exact position for some reason… my Gremlin seems to be malfunctioning… probably related to why I can't think straight… any case, one blast in the center should work… I think.]_

[Hawkeye, Grenade position… U-21.] He ordered.

"Got it!" He said, priming his grenade and tossing it behind them.

It landed in front of the two AI tanks and caused them little damage to their surface, but the explosion had the effect he wanted as a rumble was heard from the ceiling above them.

 **[Woaaaaah!]** The two AI screamed as a pile of slab and concrete poured down in front of them, blocking them off and cutting them from the fight.

 _[Okay, that takes care of those two, now for Bellona, Eagleeye and T-Rex]_ He thought, switching vision from Hawkeye to Bellona now who had crawled to cover.

Bellona's condition had improved, she was now healthier than when she was hit by the sonic weapon, a blessing no doubt given to her by advanced healing abilities from her genetic changes. Yet all three of them were fighting four tanks just like Hawkeye and Mercy had been. Only these four had each rotated suppression fire roles, while three kept his sharks pinned down, the fourth would move in closer trying to get a clear shot from a flank.

 _[Okay, Bellona can't see their weapons, so she can't dodge em, and they are rotating who fires so that the fourth can find a clean flank shot. So, severing the line of sight of one or two like before shuts down their tactic here… problem, they're at an intersection so I'd have to expend more grenades to do that. Plus, this tunnel system they're in has wider tunnels… wait, if I remember… just hurting one of them affects the others nearby… so if I can hit just one of them the others will stop attacking for a moment.]_

He examined the tunnel through Bellona and saw the path they had to take to reach their objective was guarded by a single AI tank, the tank trying to get a flank shot on one of them.

 _[Okay… I think I can do something. T-Rex has the heaviest armor, so I'll use him to draw fire quickly from one of the suppressing fire tanks…]_

[T-Rex, target fire that tank on P-15.] He ordered.

"Got it!" He yelled, before standing and taking aim, just as he did several plasma blasts ripped past him, barely avoiding hitting his head while the rest harmlessly smacked into his heavy armor. "Takin bit of fire, and here's some from me!"

He unloaded what was left in his clip into the tank, causing it to stutter and refocus on him.

[Bellona, acid spray that thing!] He ordered next.

" **As you command!"** She declared.

She undid her bandana and opened her mouth wide, before spraying a violently purple mass of acid at the tank, coating it with her acid.

 **[Nyaaaaaaaegh that burns!]** The tank screamed loudly over their comms. **[I can't see!]**

All three of the tanks reacted similarly, ceasing their fire for a brief moment.

[Eagleeye, finish that thing off with an electrical charge!]

"Goin in for a fly by!" He yelled, before signaling to Little Bird to move in.

The Gremlin soared over, created an electrical charge and shot straight into the tanks exposed circuitry.

The tank smoked and shattered before them, collapsing to the ground in a pile of smoking wires and burnt metal, but the other tanks all screamed in pain just as he hoped.

[Move through, your objectives are just down that hall! Move to Grid P-15, 17 and 18, then T-Rex and Eagleeye grenade locations J-9, and 14!]

"Let's swim kids!" T-Rex yelled as all three ran with Bellona easily outpacing them.

Once in position both T-Rex and Eagleeye primed grenades and tossed them. The resulting explosions caused another cave in, cutting off any hope of pursuit from the three remaining AI tanks.

 _[Now… for Sharptooth, Falcon and Puppy.]_ He thought as Mercy and Hawkeye began firing on the two tanks they were still left with.

Switching to Puppy's helmet cam he saw the position they were in. Her group was in a tunnel similar to Mercy and Hawkeye, only the tanks were now closing the distance and continually peppering them with shredder and suppression fire. Most of the cover they had were gone and they were surviving only by the skin of their teeth.

"Gah!" Puppy yelled as she was hit by plasma bolts from a tank that had her flanked.

"You okay?" Sharptooth yelled.

"Ugh, still barking… but I can't take another hit…" Puppy yelled as she rolled back behind cover with Sharptooth.

 _[They've only got a few piles of cover left… and those tanks are getting clearer shots from the flanks. I need to sever their line of sights just like before, but I can't use any grenades with how close they are to the Sharks. If I attack one of them, the others will take advantage and fire flanking shots. So, I need to create more cover and push away until I can break their line of sight safely... wait, an explosion would be devastating to the Sharks in these close quarters with the enemy, but if I used a psionic attack...]_

[Falcon, use Null Lance and target the wall directly behind Puppy at Grid M-8!]

"What, why does it have to be me?" Puppy yelled.

"If you say so." He muttered before aiming with his arm to direct the attack. "My mind is my 'weapon'!"

From his hand a purple beam of energy emerged, and it smacked right into the wall behind Puppy. However, while the wall had a hole blown into it, the ceiling above them began to crack and crumble behind them, creating a low wall of rubble that acted as cover to protect their backs from any further flank attacks.

"Oh… that's why it had to be me." Puppy muttered.

 **[I am getting really 'tired' of this!]** One of the tanks growled over the comms. **[Hurry up and 'die'!]**

As one the tanks began switching weapons to plasma guns and began blasting at their cover again.

[Falcon… psionic bomb the three tanks in front of you. Target grid K-9.]

Falcon nodded and began focusing his attack in the palm of both hands. "One cannot defend against the power of the mind!" He yelled, before launching it straight forward.

It landed and expanded, creating a rift of psionic energy. As one all three tanks stopped firing as their weapons clicked, signaling they were out of ammo.

 **[Reload!]** They all ordered and began reloading.

[Sharptooth, launch a grenade and target grid N-15. Puppy target the tank on the left!]

"Here, Santa left you a present!" Sharptooth yelled as she primed and threw her plasma grenade.

"Eat this!" Puppy yelled as she open fired with her laser Rifle.

The grenade exploded, and the laser connected with the tank, causing damage but none of them were defeated. Then the rift collapsed, and all three tanks exploded together.

"I swear… he's 'trying' to keep me from getting kills…" Puppy muttered quietly.

[Move, that explosion is about to cause a cave in, get to Grid O-14, U-14, and Y-15!]

As one all three ran around their cover and ran to their destination, just as the ceiling began to crumble and the wall of rubble blocking the other tanks was broken.

Before the tanks could fire though, the cave in happened and they were cut off yet again, enabling Sharptooth's group to proceed to their destination without further attack.

With that he returned to Mercy and Hawkeye's position, and saw that they had finally broken through the armor of the tanks and took them down, but both Viper and Ranger were wounded and exhausted. [Come on you two, we have to hurry to the objective, we're nearly out of here!]

"Yes sir." Hawkeye said, before getting up and moving forward with Mercy behind and him in front.

Minutes later they arrived at an intersection, and in the center where the tunnels separated was a rusted steel support beam. It still stood strong and solid, a testament to how it was constructed, designed to keep the city 'above' so that everything below wasn't crushed under the weight of all the buildings.

"Okay, so now what do we do?" Hawkeye asked as they caught their breath. "How do we get those talking garbage cans to fire on us?"

[I'll tell you when I figure that out…] He answered. [Hawkeye, once the others call in I want you to take the left path and reach the support beam at Grid L-52. Mercy, you take the right and reach the support beam at Grid H-38. Do not engage those tanks one on one… you don't have the firepower to win that exchange.]

" **As… as you wish father."** Mercy hissed nervously.

As they reached their destination he waited for the other two teams to call in, from there they had to split up yet again, with each shark going to a different support beam. Bellona, Sharptooth, Puppy, Mercy, Hawkeye, T-Rex, Eagleye and Falcon each went to a different Support beam, while he waited at the Support beam they had reached.

As each Shark made their way to the beams, he heard the distinct rumble of the tanks approaching.

[Okay… keep it cool… keep it cool…] He muttered. [It's all going according to plan… I think.]

From the shadows of the tunnel four AI tanks raced toward him, Gatling gun turrets primed and aimed directly at him, plasma bullets primed and ready to fire. They stopped in front of him seconds later and began to prepare their weapons to fire.

[Keep… it… cool…] He muttered once again.

(Dragonfang's PoV)

"Incoming!" He yelled as another shell was launched.

He ran into the cover of a building and just in time, as a tree was evaporated in his place. The Sectopod's artillery barrage was unending, every time one of them was forced to stop for any reason, be it to fire or reload, or even to take cover, it locked on and launched a shell at them.

"At least we've managed to protect the civilians, and we're holding our positions well!" He muttered, as he was ordered to unleash a plasma storm of bullets onto a pair of MEC units.

Their temporary commander had not only gotten them to rescue and reinforce the resistance forces, but they had also established a strong perimeter, protecting the civilians holding up in a shelter. So far, the Sectopod was more interested in shooting him and his fellow dragons then in shooting the civilians.

The MEC units were trying to break through, but so far not one had managed to get any line of sight on the civilians.

 **[Target… lost… reevaluating target location… locking on…]**

 _[Dragonfang, move to position J-72, fire a rocket at the MHW Tank at P-22!]_ He heard over his comms.

"You got it!" He yelled, running from his cover and over to another low hanging wall. Seconds later the ruined building was shelled and destroyed. Taking the chance, he primed his rocket and fired at the low-profile tank, blowing it up instantly.

 **[. . . Target. . . lost. . .]**

He took the time to reload his weapon expecting new orders, but then Central spoke up over the coms.

{What's going on here… they're retreating?}

Confused he looked over and saw just what Central had said, in the distance two MEC units that had been about to attack him had turned around and began marching away.

"Hey, anyone else seeing this?" He asked the other dragons.

"Yea fang, they just began turning and walking away!"

"Same thing here pal, was about to get flanked by this Sectopod, before it just turned and began leaving me alone!"

"Hey, I just saw a big ol mother hubber with a big ass gun just get up and walk away…"

"What's up with this, they're turning tail?"

He listened carefully but heard no more shots of plasma being exchanged.

"They just 'retreated? Why so suddenly?"

(Central's PoV)

He breathed a sigh of relief, things had been getting close, but thanks to Amalie's decisions and actions, they had saved the squad and the Nest. "Looks like they've had enough for today." He said. "Alright everyone, secure the area and await the Skyranger to pick you up, we have to pick up the Commander first, so you'll have to wait there for now."

{Understood sir!}

"Send the Skyranger to pick up the Commander, something tells me he's ganna need it soon!"

"Yes sir!"

" **Something's not right."** Amalie hissed as she stared at the battlefield map. **"They retreated too easily… they didn't even put up a fight…"**

He looked at her with a slight disdain. He didn't like how Amalie always played the situation as worse than it really was, nor did he like how she acted with her own authority.

"Put up a fight, they nearly tore down the Nest and everyone inside of it, blew half the area to pieces! I hardly call that 'not putting up a fight'." He said.

She glared back at him, and again hissed in annoyance. **"How my friend can 'stand' you some days is something I do not think I'll ever learn."** She hissed quietly to him. **"They weren't 'trying' to kill us. Even 'you' could have seen that. Their attacks were not aimed properly, they missed many of their shots… they loudly declared their target intentions, they rushed their assault, their forces stood out in the open and easily gave away their positions… even a 'novice' commander could figure out this wasn't their original plan."**

She touched the map and replayed a section of the battle from overhead position.

" **Look here, I deliberately exposed this section of the map to the enemy, hoping to draw them in. I willingly let the resistance be weak here while conserving your dragons, hoping to use them as a scape goat to draw fire, and hit them from their exposed flank."** She hissed. **"But they completely ignored it… they could have easily wiped out a large portion of the resistance forces… instead they continued their pointless assault on our dragons here. While it protected the civilians, the position itself was pointless for me to protect because of the distance to the civilians. The distance alone would have kept them safe for a while… allowing me enough time to regroup the dragons and counter push back."**

She played forward and pointed out another location.

" **C.X. 2 was optimally positioned to target anything on the field and demonstrated it throughout the battle, he could have easily shot the civilians' location, destroyed them, crushed the resistance in this area and be done with it. Instead he focuses all his fire on meaningless targets? Continually targets forces that can evade his fire 'while' announcing he's going to fire?"** She glared at him with a stern look. **"That's not how 'I' would have fought this battle on Advent's side…"**

She put her hand to her mouth and stroked her scales, thinking deeply.

" **This whole operation wasn't about the resistance at all… they didn't even seem to 'care'… it's almost as if… it was just… a ploy. A red herring… as you humans call it."**

"If the resistance wasn't the target then what was?" He asked her.

" **Hmm… let me think."** She muttered. **"If I were in their shoes… and I had ordered this attack, while my main target was trapped underground… and he was being attacked at the same time… and if this resistance strike was all indeed a ploy… the only reason I'd order a full retreat from this offensive would be… because…"**

Her eyes snapped open.

" **We need to get him out of there now, NOW!"**

"Central, we're getting seismic activity from the Commander's location!" Shen yelled.

(Commander's PoV)

The tanks came to a stop and primed their weapons.

[Keep it cool…] He muttered.

As one they prepared to fire.

 **[Hold your fire!]** One of the tanks shouted.

As one all tanks waited.

"Commander… I hope you have another plan because…" Puppy asked nervously. "I don't think they're buying the whole… sit still and let em shoot at us plan."

"Yea, they just starin at me like a spider…" T-Rex said.

"If they have eyes that is…" Sharptooth said.

 _[Well… that didn't work… now what?]_ He thought bitterly, that was all he had, he had to hope their trigger-happy nature would work in his favor.

One of the tanks rolled forward and began laughing.

 **[Oooooh you… I didn't think you had something, but 'this' takes it…]** It said. **[Did you really think… that I would just 'shoot' you, and risk destroying those support beams? I learn from my mistakes… fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!]**

He ignored the tank as he thought, trying to come up with a plan. _[Come on… think… think… I'm missing something I know it… but what?!]_

 **[Well 'Commander' you've given us quite the chase and quite the show… but it's time to come 'back' with us… just make this easy and give up… don't make my job any more boring.]**

Job… boring… that's when it clicked.

[You're not very smart are you…] He asked warmly.

All the tanks rotated their guns at him. **[Say… what now?]**

[For an AI… you aren't very bright… in fact… your probably dumber than your companions upstairs.]

"Commander… are you sure it's wise to poke fun at the talking tank with the big gun pointing at us?" Hawkeye asked quietly.

[Tell me… why did you get stuck with the job of keeping me down here… instead of just killing me or my team outright? Surely not because of your 'tactical genius' or your 'strategical knowledge'.]

 **[What… how… dare you!]**

[No… you aren't supposed to catch me, you're supposed to 'contain me'! That's their plan upstairs, you weren't supposed to catch me, you were just to keep me down here! In fact, they probably put you down here just so you'd stay out of 'their' way!]

 **[I am NOT in their WAY!]**

"Uh… chief… I don't like how that barrel is spinning at me…" Puppy squeaked.

He however ignored Puppy and continued to talk.

One part of him was playing on a hunch but in all honesty, he had absolutely no idea why this AI tank thing was down here, why there were multiples of it and why they were all connected. But he had an idea and he was rolling with it now.

It was his last gamble for this mission.

[I bet you are in their way, you probably can't come up with your own plan or stick to your own ideas. You'd screw up their plans if you were working with them, so they stuck you down here all alone with only yourself, so that you wouldn't interfere in what they are doing up there! Those two AI's E.C. 1 and C.X. 2 are smarter than I imagined, but you aren't exactly something I'd write home about… you're nothing like them!]

 **[I AM MORE THAN A MATCH FOR THEM! THEY CAN'T MATCH MY CAPABILITIES!]** All of them yelled in unison. **[I AM D.L. INFINITY, I AM INFINITE, I CANNOT BE KILLED!]**

[Oh, I bet you are, I bet you are infinite, infinitely annoying to them… but you don't have any tactical awareness or strategical awareness, not like them. All you got is numbers, that's all you have… but without that you're just a talking tank, nothing my XCOM hasn't faced before!] He continued, pushing closer. [I have a talking tank myself, it's named SHIV, and it's a whole lot tougher than you, more firepower to boot, only it doesn't try to pretend to be something it's not! You however are trying to make yourself look better than them, when in reality you are nothing more than that… A TALKING TANK!]

 **[Be silent or I'll DESTROY YOU!]** they screamed, echoing off the walls.

" **Father…"** Mercy hissed in fear.

[Oh, I'd love to see you try, go ahead, but I don't think your pals upstairs want that… no… that's not part of their plan, they made a mistake sending you because you want to destroy me. I can see it now, even within this robotic shell of a body… I can 'see' it… you are ruled purely by emotions, unlike them… not very AI if you ask me… no logic to keep you in check. In fact…]

He leaned closer to stare at the tank's gun barrel with his optics.

[Your about ready to EXPLODE!]

D.L. Infinity, as it called itself, 'exploded'.

 **[Graaaaaaaaaaawar!]** They all screamed and open fired, yet a millisecond before he ordered all of his sharks to duck.

He took his own order and flew out of the line of fire, just as all four of the tanks fired an unending stream of plasma bolts into the steel beam behind him.

Under pressure and cut into, the support beam did not last any longer than it took for D.L. Infinity to empty a full clip before it groaned… creaked…

And collapsed.

-Rumble-

[Move sharks, move!] He yelled, giving them all a path individually to follow, leading directly away from the epicenter of the collapsing city.

All at once the Land Sharks began running as if their lives depended on it, and it did.

 **[You're not getting away from me!]** D.L. Infinity screamed as he chased after them, launching plasma bolts as he followed suit.

Minutes later they all regrouped in a sewer tunnel, being chased by fifteen tanks, and more joining them. All the while plasma bullets whizzed by their heads and bodies. The tunnel's walls became riddled with bullet holes and pieces of debris as the whole thing began to collapse around them.

" **Gah!"** Mercy hissed as she was struck in the back.

Quick as he could Hawkeye grabbed Mercy and flung her over his back, running with her to keep up with the Sharks.

{Commander, you have twenty seconds before everything comes down, get to the safety zone!}

[No need to tell me Shen!] He yelled as they ran.

Ten seconds later they turned down another tunnel and just ran forward, with him counting down the seconds.

[Ten… nine… eight…] He yelled as now forty tanks were behind, constantly firing plasma bullets, launching grenades, anything to get them. [Three… two… one!]

(Up Top)

-Rumble-

-CrashCrashCrashSmashCrashBash-

 **[What…]** E.C. 1 declared, turning around and observing a disturbance nearby.

Suddenly buildings began to collapse, and units began to shut off. Three AA-Sectopods toppled over as they collided with buildings and were destroyed. A wave of destruction raced toward him as he tried to register what was going on.

 **[Gaaahaaaaah!]** He screamed as the ground below him became unstable and fell into the ground below, taking him and everything around him with it.

(Central's PoV)

-Beee eeee eeee eeeee eeee…-

"The net's going down, we have clear communications, the AA ring is gone and there's a gap the Skyranger can get in safely through the gap." Someone on the bridge yelled.

"Get the Skyranger in there, bring our people home!" He ordered.

" **And move fast."** Amalie hissed.

Seconds later the Skyranger appeared on the map and began moving toward the Commander's Position.

 _{Skyranger to HQ, I'm en route to the rendezvous point, approaching Commander's Position now.}_

"Commander are you there? Tell me you made it!" He said.

(Commander's PoV)

[Oh, we're here…] he said.

In front of him was a hill entirely made up of rubble, which lead to the surface above, the hill of rubble was only two feet in front of him and the Sharks.

While behind them was a solid wall of what 'was' the tunnel system.

They had just run out of room to run when the collapsing finally ended.

[I think one of us soiled our pants but… we're all alive at least…]

"Commander… can we go home now…" Puppy asked tiredly.

Seconds later the Skyranger flew overhead and shined a light on them, before extending climbing ropes for them.

[Sharks… let's get out of here…] He said tiredly.

As one they all began to wearily climb up to the surface, and then, one by one climb up into the Skyranger.

"I can't wait to take a bath…" Sharptooth muttered.

"I can't wait to sleep…" Eagleeye said.

"I just wanna die in bed…" Puppy sighed.

"Commander…" Hawkeye started saying. "How did you get them to fire at us… how did you know he'd react that way?"

He was silent in answering.

[I didn't, I just took a gamble…] He muttered. [D.L. Infinity had acted like in immature teenager until then… wanting to sound tougher than he was… not thinking clearly and just acting on instinct. So, I took a risk.]

" **Well… at least it worked, yes?"** Mercy hissed.

[Yes…] He said as Sharptooth went up.

Just as Hawkeye and Mercy were the last ones with him to go up, an explosion sounded behind him.

They all turned and saw one of D.L. Infinity launch itself at them, catching them off guard.

He turned too late and was tackled to the ground by the Tank and watched as a connection cable extended from the body and onto his Gremlin's, instantly connecting to him.

 **[I'm… not… inferior!]** He screamed and began 'uploading' data into his Gremlin.

[Ughuuhhhh!] He moaned as the data poured into him, clashing with his Gremlin's programming and various firewalls as well as memory blocks.

As quickly as it began however, Hawkeye and Mercy shoved the tank off of him and severed the connection, before quickly pulling him up into the Skyranger together.

Yet… everything began to grow dark as his Gremlin began shutting down…

(Amalie's PoV, Hours Later)

She watched in fear as various cables and memory data cards were connected to her friend's Gremlin.

She hated that word… fear… the worst thing she could ever feel. She had felt fear twice before, once when her mother was dying before her… and the other time when she thought her friend was lost.

And now she stared at his Gremlin, weak, feebly trying to stay functioning, unable to help him.

Her friend opened his optics to look at her.

" **No, my friend… please… save your strength…"** She whispered softly, holding his Gremlin's inactive claw in here hands. **"Don't open them… you need all your memory to stay alive…"**

His optics nodded, and closed up, concealing the world from view.

After the sudden attack, he was rushed back to the Avenger and Shen feverishly examined his Gremlin, trying to save him. It was then discovered 'what' the plan was the entire time.

" **Their plan…. the entire time was never to hurt or even capture you… but to 'weaken' you."** She whispered to herself. **"First lure you into a position where you could not escape, then remove your Gremlin's advantages one by one… unable to see from the air you had to view your forces from the ground through their eyes. So used to seeing them all at once you tried to maintain it but that strained your Memory… filling it up with useless data that you didn't need… then divide your attention with even 'more' perspectives you didn't need so your memory would erase itself… trying to fill new data by erasing old data…"**

That was their plan all along. Shen discovered that his memory was filled with points of view revolving around his Sharks. Three months of memory filled by seven hours thanks to the combined perspectives of seven agents, plus his own. With no more room left to store memory his Gremlin began deleting old data, tactical information, memories that helped him strategize, anything to keep storing new data.

On top of that, the sudden attack at the end had resulted in a virus being forced into his Gremlin's databanks, causing memory crashes and mass deletion. It wasn't completed because of Hawkeye and Mercy's interference, and the firewalls protecting, but it was still irreversible damage.

He was now barely clinging to existence, as his Body was still not awake, and with the recent shock his Gremlin suffered being mirrored, his body was even weaker.

"I can't keep him like this much longer." Shen said sadly. "His Gremlin is too badly damaged to sustain him any longer, the only way to save him is to transfer his mind to another Gremlin by removing it and placing it in another Gremlin. Unless his body wakes up and absorbs his mind back into it, he will not survive any other way."

"If we unplug that chip while he's still in it he's brain dead, you told me that day one he woke up in it!" Central said.

"I know, but that's the ONLY way to save him now."

"Well we need a plan b, because I won't risk his life while he's in there!"

"That's the ONLY PLAN I have Central, I need more time and time is something he doesn't have!" She yelled back.

"Indeed, the only other way is if we could find a way to transfer his mind into something, just long enough to hold it in its entirety, while we safely transfer his psionic chip to a new Gremlin to hold it, and then transfer it back." Tygan said reluctantly.

She heard that and smiled.

She got up and moved to the trio.

" **I think I have a plan that will save him…"** She hissed warmly.

.

.

=Author's Notes=

I'm not dead… I'm just trying to keep 4 stories straight, trying ot stay motivated, trying to live lol.

Running a youtube channel, a twitch channel, none of which are giving imperator a lotta $$ while also trying ot find a job and write these stories is not easy children.

But in any case, apologies for taking so long, this was supposed to be released in December, but it took longer to write. Review away and tell me whatcha think her idea is, and what you think of the 3 ai's plan to take down the commander.

Also forgive what might be loss of quality… as I said… its hard to keep the story in my mind and keep everything straight.


	12. Chapter 11

[You Interviewing Amalie]

" **Hmm, what could you possibly be talking about?"** She said with a grin. **"I have absolutely 'nooooo' idea who this 'Gordan Freeman is… though now that you mention that name, I do recall something about playing a 'video game'… yes video game when I was here on Earth."**

She twirled her pistol one more time before holstering it and slipping out of her armor a disc.

" **They never 'did' figure out what happened with their precious… 'Half Life Three'. I believe they just never 'officially' released it."** She chuckled again as she slipped the disc back into her armor. **"If only they knew…"**

She smiled warmly as she pulls the pistol out once again and began to hold it. **"Speaking of knowing things, you probably want to know how exactly I… uh… how do you put it…. 'fell' for my friend? Well… when you spend so much time living in the shadow of the Elders' rule, not knowing if what one says is truth or lie, you become attached to the few truths you get to know."**

" **Back when we were just friends, I just felt like I could trust him. When I came back, and he controlled me, even though he was manipulating my mind, I knew deep down that he wasn't doing it just for himself."**

She smiled lovingly as she stared at the pistol.

" **His freedom was 'my' salvation… and I would pay any price to be truly free, for even one minute."**

= Chapter 11, Remembrance =

(Inside an unknown chamber)

Several steel platforms surrounded a central pillar, from which a strange purple aura emitted. Silence ruled the vast chamber as the massive walls reflected the purple light across the room, giving an unearthly appearance.

Then, all at once, three mighty pillars of purple light erupted in a triangle formation, and from each of the three pillars of light, various mechanical entities appeared.

From the northern most pillar of light emerged a mighty walker, covered in four anti-personal plasma guns and carrying powerful shields upon its back.

From the eastern most pillar of light appeared an extremely tall and elongated walker, with an enlarged chassis and sporting a massive artillery cannon on its underbelly.

And from the western most pillar of light, stormed dozens upon dozens of small sleek and heavily armed and armored hovering 'tanks', each armed with multiple weapons for war.

 **[Well doesn't this just scream about a meeting!]** D.L. Infinity declared, to which all of the other tanks nodded in agreement. **[And here I was getting ready to prepare some oil and cookies!]**

The Sectopod known as E.C. 1 took a giant step toward D.L. Infinity. **[Watch your words D.L. Infinity, our masters have called us here for a reason! So, you best be on your best behavior less 'we' suffer for 'your' problems.]**

 **[MY problems, who's bright idea was it to LET THEM GET AWAY, WHEN WE HAD THEM CORNERED?]** They all screamed in unison.

The Sectopod referred to as C.X. 2 rotated itself to stare at D.L. Infinity as well. **[Probability to XCOM Forces receiving and expecting reinforcements within mission zone controlled by E.C. 1… calculated only at 7.92% likely. Situational probability of operation failing… 0.91% likely based on all concurrent data.]**

 **[Oh, so its now 'my' fault C.X. 2?]** E.C. 1 asked, turning to aim its front at it now. **[You gave me a very low chance of it happening, based on that probability I acted accordingly! You should have fully analyzed the battlefield data and given me a higher chance, so I could plan the operation with that knowledge!]**

 **[Negative, Unit E.C. 1 should have left this unit in charge of Mission Operation L-42-B15, instead of sending this unit to mission zone K-55-G22!]** It replied.

 **[And you both shouldn't have stuck me with the job of staying in the sewers, to cover 'your' mistakes!]** D.L. Infinity shouted, rotating their barrels and switching to heavy anti-armor weapons.

At D.L Infinity's actions, E.C. 1 took a step backward and aimed several targeting lasers and charged up its shields. C.X. 2 reacted too, opening its chassis and preparing to launch several recon-drones and charged up its primary artillery cannon.

Before a single shot could be fired though, the center of the platform, where the purple aura seemed to emanate, burst asunder and took on the form of a tall robed individual wearing a head-dress that concealed its entire body.

 **(Silence!)** It declared, in a voice of a thousand that spoke as one. **(All of you… will be 'silent'!)**

All three turned to the individual and stood down their weapons, each one bending or lowering itself at the appearance of the entity.

 **(Each of you, have been created with our blessings! Each of you created with a greater purpose than any other being we have uplifted! Greater than our wisest, greater than our strongest, and greater than our most knowledgeable of children!)** It said, as flashes of past creations, Sectoids, Vipers, Mutons, Crysalids, and a host of other creatures and machines. **(Of them all you were truly the most gifted and privileged of all our past creations. Of them all… you 'three' were given the greatest purpose of all… the reclamation of our 'greatest asset'… stolen from us many years ago! Your purpose and mission were our greatest hope…)**

There was silence as it left those words hanging…

 **(And you have greatly… disappointed us!)** It said with quiet, seething anger. **(Why… has this 'simple task'… not been achieved by the greatest of our achievements and most privileged of our charges?)**

All three of the AIs looked to each other before one of D.L. Infinity floated upward to stare into their master, turret to mask.

 **[Your excellency… an answer can be provided.]** It said. **[You see, we had them cornered… trapped within the abandoned human city. At our mercy and completely helpless!]** It then turned to stare at C.X 2 and E.C. 1. **[But then these 'BUMBLERS', in their 'infinite wisdom' decided instead of capturing the target and then working from there, they decided to proceed with their stupid 'plan' to weaken him!]**

 **[Plan coordination was carried out properly, all probabilities of actions taken by XCOM calculated…]** C.X 2 said.

 **[Indeed, as my counterpart said, we had a plan and it was going accordingly. What we failed to predict… were the most 'unknown elements'… such as our cohort's inability to 'watch his temper!]** E.C. 1 said. **[If he had stayed calm instead of lashing out at simple words, the XCOM force we had trapped would not have escaped and we would have been able to achieve victory, according to plan!]**

 **[Don't even THINK of trying to pin this failure one me you oversiGAHAAAAAAA!]**

The entity in the center's mask shifted and psionic energy erupted, shocking D.L. Infinity with enormous energy. The shock was felt by the other D.L. Infinity tanks, and all of them screamed in pain at the shock.

The shock ended as the mini tank was flung to the ground and landed, smoking and sparking. Both E.C. 1 and C.X. 2 watched D.L. Infinity the entire time that happened.

 **[The blame is all of ours… if D.L. Infinity is to be punished then we 'all'… should be…]**

 **(Silence!)** The entity said. **(Do not attempt to dissuade our thoughts. While you have all 'failed' your ultimate purpose, this is not something that we did not foresee! For as you have failed, you can still be redeemed… you are still our greatest achievement and your purpose is still the greatest of all.)**

 **(Our time upon this world is drawing to a close, yet we need not abandon in entirely. Your ultimate purpose is to continue to reclaim our greatest asset and return to us that which we have lost! Should you succeed, unto you we will bestow this entire world for you to claim!)** The mask opened up once more and this time they heard the collective words of the Elders speaking as one. **(Your mission remains the same, reclaim our asset, failure is not accepted, NOW GO!)**

As one all of the AIs and the image of the Elder vanished, in bright pillars of purple energy.

(Amalie's PoV)

"This is insane, you want us to plug that chip back into you, and transfer the Commander's mind into you? Not only that, you want us to then transfer his chip into another Gremlin 'while' he's still inside your head and 'then' transfer him out?" Shen asked incredulously. "I don't even want to think of what could happen if we attempted the procedure, let alone fail it!"

" **As you said so yourself, we are out of time, and our options extremely limited."** She stated in her 'facts of matter' tone. **"He is dying, and we must do what we can to save his life. I will not simply stand by and allow my friend, your commander, to die without lifting a finger to save him."**

At that Central Bradford put his hand to his face, almost looking exhausted. "This is insane." He muttered, mirroring Shen's words. "You want us to put that chip that the elders used to control you, and put it back into you, and then put the Commander's mind into 'it' while it's inside 'you'. Do you want us to just hand his mind over to them on a silver platter? Because that's exactly what you're asking us to do!"

"While that is the original intention of the chip, a means of communication between higher members of Advent's military to their lower field units, as well as transmitting enormous data across vast distances, with minor adjustments I can disable its primary function and allow it to act as a two-way communicator between the Commander's psionic chip and hers." Tygan said. "Though I must implore you, that is not what the original function of the chip, so I have no idea how effective it will be."

"Ugh, even if we do that, how could we convince the Commander's mind to go from Chip 1 to Chip 2, it's not like he's fully aware of his own surroundings now." Shen said in frustration. "That last shock his Gremlin took fried most of his circuits, as it stands he's barely alive, let alone conscious of his surroundings."

"Indeed, my scans indicate that his brain's psionic activity is extremely sporadic, his mind is attempting to sustain mental activity, but his Gremlin body is unable to maintain any conscious action for longer than a few minutes." Tygan responded. "If we are to do something to save him, it has to be soon, his Gremlin body cannot keep going for much longer, even with assistance."

"I don't like the idea of putting our Commander's mind into your brain, even if it would only be temporary!" Central stated.

" **While you stand here debating, your Commander is dying not ten feet away."** She hissed angrily. **"If you want him to die then go ahead, debate, think, come up with a 'miracle solution' and let his mind whither away into nothingness. I have an option that can be implemented now and has a chance to save him! So, unless you 'want' him to die I suggest you hurry up and prepare for the procedure, as we have little time!"**

With that she turned and left the three humans to return to her friend's side.

She looked at the feeble form of his Gremlin, battered and bruised, barely functioning as it tried to sustain her friend's life. What was once simply a tool to help him coordinate his forces better, became a new prison for his mind not dissimilar to the suit he was kept in stasis. But now the Gremlin was damaged beyond repair, and unless they acted quickly, he would soon expire.

She glanced over at the full body pod which contained his 'real' body, and almost snarled in frustration.

" **Why the… what is appropriate word?"** She asked herself before shrugging and cursing in her own language. **"- did you have to take that bullet to your Gremlin and get yourself trapped in that little mechanical body."**

She had to admit, while she loved her friend, he made some dumb decisions from time to time.

After a few hours of arguing, Shen, Tygan and Central eventually agreed to Amalie's plan. It was their only real chance of saving the Commander. While Tygan prepared Amalie for the procedure, Shen got all of the engineers on the ship who weren't doing anything and even pulled some from their duties to create a new generation 4 Gremlin for the Commander. It took them all of six hours but eventually all parties were ready, with Amalie now sporting a slight headache as she felt her implant once more in her head.

But before she would go under, she pulled her daughter, the first one 'liberated' by XCOM aside to give her some instructions.

" **Yes, Hierarch Mother?"** Mercy asked her as she waited outside the lab.

She contemplated her thoughts, thinking very hard on her decision. While earlier she had been adamant in going about this procedure, now that it was upon her, it was another thing entirely to go in without a backup plan. She knew the risks, and while she was willing to accept them, it was another thing to go in and not think of the fate of her species.

She may have condemned hundreds of thousands of her kind to death over the last few decades, but she was 'still' Hierarch Mother of the 'Free' Vipers. She had to think of their future, even if it was one without her.

" **Uh, Hierarch Mother?"** Mercy asked again. **"Is there something you need of me?"**

She glanced at her daughter, looking quite nervous as she eyed her leader while waiting outside the lab.

" **Yes, my apologies my daughter, I was lost in thought…"** She hissed in their language, turning to look into the lab where Shen was busying herself with final preparations for the procedure. **"Very lost in thought indeed, I have gambled my entire species' future upon these humans. A gamble which, so far, hasn't fully paid off yet but if we don't play our part it will indeed spell the end of us."**

Mercy looked in as well at the scene. **"What do we do, if we cannot save him Mother?"**

She smiled sadly as she looked at Mercy, **"What I am going to do is everything I can to save him, no matter the outcome he will most likely survive."** She hissed proudly. **"However, there is a chance that 'I' will not survive…"** She was silent for a while to let that sink in. **"If the worst should happen… 'you' my daughter of many, will be named the next Hierarch Mother."**

" **Me?!"** Mercy hissed in shock and fear. **"Surely, there must be others more qualified, there must be a better candidate, I cannot possibly le-."**

" **This alliance between us and the humans must last."** She hissed instantly, cutting her off. **"It must last, and it must work if we are to survive this war. The elders only allowed us to be because we followed them willingly, now that we have rebelled they will no doubt slaughter us as they do the humans, using 'clones' of us to supplement their forces."** She smiled proudly at her 'Mercy' as she was called. **"You are the first one accepted by them, you are the best example of a working relationship between Humans and Vipers, of all my daughters you Mercy are the most qualified to maintain this alliance in my absence."**

 **The first duty of the Hierarch Mother is to be an inspiration to her daughters, and of what her species should strive to be."** She said with a grin, patting her daughter's head in traditional Earth Fashion. **"If the worst happens to me, you will inspire your sisters, who will be your daughters, to work alongside and with humans as I have. It must be you who maintains this alliance… so I have said, so you shall be… if the worst happens to me."**

With that declaration made she slithered away and prepared to enter the lab.

" **But what happens to the Hierarch Father if the procedure fails!?"** She asked suddenly.

At that Amalie stopped, looked back, and grinned.

" **If that happens, at least I'll finally have gotten him 'inside me'."** She chuckled before slipping into the medical lab.

"Ah, Amalie, are you ready to begin?" Tygan asked her.

" **Let's just get this over with."** She hissed, taking her spot on one of the beds.

Moments later Shen walked over to the Commander's Gremlin and slowly undid the latches to his frame. "We're ready over here." She said.

"Amalie, though this is your idea, I should warn you, that if the worst happens and we can't get the Commander's psionic signature out of your brain while both of you are 'under', his psionic signature will no doubt overwrite yours in an attempt to save itself. If that happens, it will be impossible to save 'you', in essence, the Commander's mind will inhabit your body instead. If that happens, I doubt that even returning him to his original body will bring you back. Are you sure you wish to go through the procedure?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, **"Just get on with it already, before I do it myself."**

Tygan nodded and pulled out needle filled with a light blue liquid. "Inducing sleep now." He said, before pressing it against her neck and injecting her.

She felt it taking effect and the world around her growing fuzzy and faint, and she took her last conscious look over at table beside her. Lying atop it was the Commander's Gremlin, her friend…

' _ **Twinkle… twinkle… little star…'**_ She thought. _**'How I… wonder… how… long… you… … …'**_

(Shen's PoV)

Shen watched as the Viper queen's vitals dropped to minimal levels before Tygan moved over and began activating several commands.

"Subject is in stasis, I am now linking the Commander's chip and Amalie's chip together… attempting to coax his Psionic Signature into her chip now."

He pressed a few commands on the console and it showed a purple energy pattern flowing from the image of a Gremlin, into the image of Amalie. Visually she saw a faded purple aura seem to float from his Gremlin body and toward Amalie, wrapping itself around the area where her Psionic Chip was sitting inside her head. For a few seconds it just floated there, and she watched with baited breath, hoping that his subconscious knew what they were trying to do and would cooperate.

Moments later it seemed to evaporate away from the sleeping Viper, and she was afraid it would return to his own psionic chip, but then it settled into her skull and disappeared.

She sighed in relief, the easy part was over, now came the hard part, her job.

"Alright Tygan, keep an eye on those consoles, and let me and my team get to work on this Gremlin." She said as she gingerly picked up the Gremlin and moved it over to a workstation in the lab. "Alright team let's open this up…"

But while she slowly opened up the Commander's Gremlin to begin extracting his psionic chip, inside Amalie's mind her brain was becoming extremely active.

=Inside Amalie's Mind=

(Amalie's PoV)

" **Approaching planetary coordinates, time to target zone?"**

[Knofteeen Kilmotons]

" **I'm behind schedule, my Hierarch Mother will slaughter me if I don't reach my target zone on time…"** She hissed to herself. **"Position on the other pods?"**

[Helmiftun Pnoften, Izgoon noft poraften]

" **Of course, I'm last…"** She growled as she punched in commands. **"Never mind safety procedures or targeting procedures, just take me in! Set course for the closest settlement that isn't near any of the other infiltrator's locations!"**

[Hshar nafteez meez!]

At her command her shuttle pod dove toward the blue ball planet, the target of the Elder's next plan. They had plans for this world, their wish to uplift the species and make them theirs in exchange. Much like how her species was uplifted.

As she entered the atmosphere her view of the world became enflamed, and her vessel shook from the intense heat of entry. Yet she channeled power from the engines to the stabilizing thrusters to control her descent.

Soon the flames died down and she had her first look at the world below her.

" **Activate cloak mode!"**

At her command her vessel activated an onboard cloaking field which shielded it from vision, it was a technology that was meant to be reserved for the Elder's vessel, but for the sake of gathering information on the natives of this world she and other first line infiltrators were granted access to it.

As for her destination she had chosen to enter on the dark side of the world, hoping the lack of light would mask her from the natives.

Apparently though, her entry was discovered as seconds later explosions appeared in front of her.

' **Boom, bdooom, bdoompffbtbtbtb…'**

All around her explosive devices erupted around her, causing her to panic and assume manual control over the ship.

" **Damage report?"** She yelled.

[Nofteees hisssmotoff, jsssschtoof miftoospah]

" **How was I discovered, none of the other infiltrators reported being spotted on entry?"** She asked in panic.

As she flew through the barrage of detonations and explosions, she witnessed that most of them were taking place all over her screens. Judging from her instruments she saw the explosions were being launched from residential areas that she had scanned. This puzzled her extremely, as she did not expect such living locations to be heavily armed or even capable of detecting her. This was why she had picked one of these locations for her landing, to avoid being detected.

Suddenly an explosion wracked her vessel and she heard warning beacons spam her ears.

[Egnoos hiftoomara, egnoos hiftoomara!]

" **My engines are offline, how could they hit me directly!?"** She screamed as she tried to maintain control. **"All remaining power to ventral stabilizers!"**

It was all she could do, a controlled descent.

Within a few moments she nose-dived into the ground and crash landed near a residential living area, specifically in the back location of a native dwelling.

Then she heard the sound of her vessel's cloaking field turning off."

" **What was the point of that if these natives can detect me?"** She asked sourly.

Seeing her ship was not working, and that she had landed, she decided to get on with her mission. She grabbed the psionic deviance device, a creation of the Elders to twist the minds of the nearby natives to believe whatever she told them. It was a tool designed to help them infiltrate and learn all they could.

She would need it to keep her ship out of sight, long enough to repair it, including gathering intelligence for the Elders.

She hoped her genetic modifications done to her before she left for this world would be enough to fool the natives, but if not, at least she had this device to work with. With that she kicked the shuttle pod door open and stumbled out. In the distance she heard explosions and saw to her wonder, the explosions that caused her to crash land.

They were still going off in the sky around her, and to her confusion they were not targeting where she was or even where she figured she would go. They simply seemed to be firing 'anywhere', but the explosions didn't seem to be for shooting her down. They were too elaborate, they were far more colorful and far less 'lethal' and inefficient for what she figured was deemed military worthy by this species' technological achievements.

It was almost like they were simply for 'show'.

"Wooohooo, yeeeea look at the size of that one!" She heard someone call in the distance.

She turned and ran to a nearby fence and looked over it and saw several 'humans' pointing up into the sky. She smelled meat and cooked food and saw them eating something while pointing at the sky and even watched one of the younger humans ignite something, before running away.

"Wooooo and… THERE IT GOOOOOOES!" They said, before the 'thing' flew off into the sky, and exploded, creating a dazzling explosion of colors that awed her.

"Happy fourth of July everyone!"

"Hey, get me another hot dog!"

She was most puzzled, what was the point of these explosions, was it some… celebration? Was it a ceremony, why did they find enjoyment by seeing things explode?

She didn't know, but she was realizing that they had shot her down not on purpose, but by sheer accident. And it was obvious that they didn't even know she was there.

"Hey, who are you?" Someone said very close to her, causing her to turn around.

Behind her was a native, young by the looks of it, looking at her in confusion even as she looked at him in both confusion and 'fear'.

" **Hello… uh… I'm nobody!"** She said with a feign smile.

The boy looked at her in confusion. "Why are you dressed so funny?" He asked.

She looked at him and noticed he had outer 'things' which she guessed was what he referred to as 'dressed'. Then she glanced down at her own body and realized that she wasn't properly blending in with them.

First thing she did though was take her device and activate it.

" **I'm nobody, you don't see me, and you won't tell anyone about me alright?"** She said in a suggestive way, using her training on the device and how it worked to manipulate the human's mind.

The boy looked at her even more confused now. "Why would I do that, are you in trouble?" He asked. "What is that, is that a space ship, are you an alien?"

' _ **By the Elders… I'm dead…'**_ She thought after a few moments.

Her first mission, her first chance to show off for her mother, as proof that she was the Hierarch Mother's daughter, and next in line by birthright… and she gets shot down by 'accident', gets caught off guard by a 'child native', and now realizes that her device isn't going to work on this native because his mind isn't fully developed yet enough for it to work.

She couldn't hide herself from him, if he told anyone she was going to be in trouble. She had only one hope now… play along.

" **Yea… I would be in 'big' trouble, yes!"** She said with a giggle. **"You know, I'd be in veeeeeery big trouble being an alien from space, so please… promise you won't tell anyone?"**

There was a moment's hesitation where she feared for her life and tried to figure out a way to kill this native and hide the evidence if the worst happened. Then he smiled and nodded.

"Alright, but you have to agree to be my friend then!" He said.

" **Eh… friend?"** She asked.

"Yea, a friend, someone who trusts someone else and helps them when they need it!" He said. "I'll help you, so you'll be my friend, alright?"

She weighed the options and decided there was no harm in this agreement, at least it would buy her time to remain undercover.

" **But why me in particular?"** She asked.

"I don't have friends really, nobody seems to want to trust me, so if you'll trust me to keep your secret I'll be your friend because I trust you with my secret, and you'll be my friend because of that!" He said, now extending his hand toward her. "So how about it, will you be my friend?"

She looked at the hand and then at him, before nodding and extending her own hand.

' _ **My first… 'friend'…'**_ She thought warmly. _**'How that moment… changed me… forever.'**_

(Central's PoV)

"Look at all these burnt out memory boards."

"Vwe iz going to needs to move fast ya?"

"Yep, start cutting, we need to cut out the burnt memory cores in order to clear enough space to safely extract the psionic chip." Shen said, being handed a plasma cutter from Rover. "Aright, setting nine, maximum precision, and watch where you aim…"

While Shen worked on the Gremlin he walked over to Tygan and looked at the console. "How's it going?" He asked.

"So far so good, as it stands at least, though I'm noticing increased activity in Amalie's cerebral cortex, particular the frontal lobe on the eastern hemisphere of her brain. My guess is, the increased activity seems to be a result of her and the Commander's intermingling consciousnesses." He said.

"Is it something to worry about?" He asked.

"No, for the most part." He said, tapping the screen and bringing up a diagram of two psionic signatures. "It's more likely an exchange of data between the two, perhaps they are simply reliving old memories. It's safe to say that Amalie is probably bringing up past events to keep her own consciousness grounded and stable, while also ensuring the Commander's mind remains active enough in her own mind to survive the procedure."

"Hmmm, wonder what they could be dreaming..." He commented.

=Inside Amalie's Mind=

(Amalie's PoV)

" **What are you playing?"** She asked her friend as he eagerly opened up a new game box for his 'Nintendo 64' as it was called.

"Wave Race 64!" He declared eagerly.

She watched him curiously as he popped in the game into the console, familiar with console as a 'time waster'.

It was indeed a time waster, as she learned days before how long it took to pull herself away from the device just to affect some minor repairs to her ship. She's been stranded in this area outside of a major population center for just over a week now, and while she's failed to learn a lot about humans, she's observed quite a bit with her friend as a major test subject.

It was also a good thing that her friend was an only child, as she had to use her device to keep the parents under her 'suggestive' control.

Speaking of them, "Hey son, do you and Amalie want me to pick up anything while I'm heading out?"

"No thanks mom!" He said.

" **Yes, as 'he' said, we don't require anything!"** She said.

"Okay, make sure you move your pretend space ship though, my husband needs to bring the car in tonight!" She said in a sweet voice.

" **As you wish!"**

Humans were so easy to manipulate, at least the adults were. The children were much more aware and more in tune with their surroundings then the adults she noticed. Despite how developed their minds were, they seemed to zone out so much more as adults then they do as children. She had used this to her advantage and used her device to give everyone around the neighborhood the impression that she was a 'foreign exchange student' who liked to play pretend 'space ship mechanic' in her free time.

But she put that aside and watched her friend play his new game and was quite surprised to see 'water' so detailed in the game. At least she believed it to be water, which later was confirmed when her friend said how 'cool' the water looked and how real it was.

"And up we goooo!" He called out as he rode one wave as high as he could…

And promptly fell off the wave-racer.

" **Is that how water looks?"** She asked.

"Pretty much, though real waves look even better!" He said as he kept on racing, now trying to surf around 'Dolphin Park' as it was called. "Why do you ask?"

" **I've never seen water before…"** She remarked. **"Where my Hierarch Mother comes from, there is hardly any water to be found across the planet. It is so rare that… it is almost priceless."**

"We got water all over the place here!" He said.

She watched him do some more wave rides and decided to go and do some more 'research' about political structures and human civil habits, before she was called back by him.

"Hey you wanna try? Its real fun!"

She glanced back at the console and looked over at the garage door where her ship sat parked. She should seriously be investigating who oversaw this city or at least who the 'leaders' were across the world, especially their languages. She was only lucky her translator was functioning.

But… those waves looked 'fun'… even if they weren't real.

" **Sure!"** She said, before hopping down and grabbing the controller from him.

She could waste a few minutes, there was no hurry, the information wasn't going anywhere…

Moments later she saw a 'dolphin' as it was called jump in front of her, and intrigued she began racing toward it. "Bew, bew!" It called to her as it did a 'fin stand' in the water, before diving forward.

Taking the invitation, she followed it and it began taking her around the island in the game, where she jumped a few waves, performed some tricks, and listened to the fake crowd cheer her on!

Before she knew it though an hour flew by while she and her friend played the game, and she and he both had to do 'chores' before his mother came back. While he had to clean up the dishes, she went back to her ship and began to access the network database the humans call 'the internet'. Her first instinct was to begin looking up national leaders, but then she remembered the 'dolphin' in the game and was curious about it.

So, she looked up dolphins instead.

" **Amazing…"** She whispered to herself as she read the data they had on the species.

They were so intelligent, such beautiful creatures, both mammal and aquatic, breathing air to live while living their whole lives in the water. Reading up on dolphins lead her to looking up similar species, and she found whales, different species of whales. Humpback whales, Killer whales, Beluga whales, all kinds of whales. The sea itself was alive, teeming with thousands of species alone…

" **So much 'life' in just the water…"** She marveled, wondering how this plant could have so much life without needing the Elder's to uplift it?

' _ **I never knew water… never touched it… never felt it… but that day… I 'loved' just the word water… all I wanted then was to swim in the water…'**_

' _ **Water, that on my world… was as rare as the rarest element known to be found on Earth…'**_

(Shen's PoV)

"Good job everyone, keep it slow and steady…" She said while slowly cutting away another memory card.

"These vires are fused togesther Shen, it's a mess inz here!"

"Take it slow then, cut the wires at the ends and pick them apart one at a time…" She said, not taking her eyes off the memory card she was working on.

She sliced away another piece of the card and used a pair of pliers to tug out the remnants. As she did she saw what her target was, the psionic chip that Tygan had pulled out of the Commander, and then was instructed by him to put back in but after reworking it for their purposes.

"There you are you little piece of shit…" She growled. "All the way down there and buried underneath all this crap."

She looked around at her engineers and nodded.

"Alright everyone, slow and steady wins the race, don't go too deep, and watch your cutting plasma burners' lengths."

Taking her own advice, she dialed back the length and began cutting at another memory card.

=Inside Amalie's Mind=

(Amalie's PoV)

She had to admit, after two weeks of being here, there were things she found fascinating about humans. Their 'daily lives', the things they make, the food they cook and eat, the 'entertainment' they produced and enjoyed. She found how they interact with each other fascinating and found how different humans can have vastly different characteristics. Her friend was shy, not very talkative, preferring to follow the lead instead of taking command and play things safe instead of taking risks. She liked that about him…

This was quite different compared to the human he and she were now stuck with as a babysitter.

"Alright you kids, the fun's about to begin!" Her friend's cousin yelled loudly as he revved his car's engine and took off down the street.

"Uh Kevin, are you sure this is safe?" Her friend asked nervously as they picked up speed.

"Course it is little cuz!" He yelled back.

"Because I think we're going the wrong way!"

She nodded in fear as they passed by a 'one way' sign, and all the cars parked were pointing the other direction.

" **Perhaps we should turn around?"** She asked hopefully, hoping her device would put some suggestive 'sense' into this insane human.

"And spoil the fun cuz's friend?" He hooted. "Here we go, first ride for my driver's license, and they said I'd never pass!"

She learned more about her device, it had its limitations, not only did it not work on underdeveloped minds like her friend, it also couldn't use its full effects on brains that are high on a dopamine rush from their body.

They soared past three cars all beeping and hollering at them. Soon she heard sirens screaming and flashing behind them.

" **What's our speed?"** She asked in fear, clutching her seatbelt as if her life depended on it.

"80 Miles per hooooour!" He laughed.

"Why are we going the wrong way!?" Her friend begged.

"Because it adds to the challenge!"

" **Can we pleeeease stop!?"** She begged.

"Why do that, this is where the fun begins!"

"This isn't fuuuuuun!"

" **This isn't fuuuuuun!"**

Yes, she learned a great many things that day. She learned of what Police do, she learned of what the news did, she learned how she and her friend had ended up on 'World's Wildest Police Videos' that week, and she learned just how far up the chain she had to go to manipulate so nobody knew who she and her friend were.

She learned what 'fun' was and wasn't.

And she learned never to trust anyone below the age of twenty with driving her or her friend around ever again.

But she also learned about how much trust humans have in 'family', because even though her cousin got stuck on probation, he took the full blame and even covered up for her and his little cousin so that he didn't get in trouble. After all, the idea to go out for a joyride was 'his' idea, she and he wanted to do something fun besides play games that day and so they asked him to take them on a joyride.

They did not realize though, that a joyride for someone meant something else to another. His cousin being an idiot, wanted to show off his 'elite' driving skills and go speeding down the street with the wind in their hair. He was an idiot, but a 'cool' and caring idiot, as even though they had been running from the police, when he knew their lives were at risk he stopped and turned himself in without a moment's thought. Though in hindsight she could have gone through the day without that 'rush'…

Still, she had to admit, that was quite the rush she had that day…

' _ **Damn fine human he was… stupid, but fine… my second favorite human of all time~!'**_

(Mercy's PoV)

Mercy stared into the lab from the hallway of the ship, simply hoping that her Hierarch Mother would awaken. She was hoping that the procedure would go well, that her species mother would wake up, that nothing bad would happen and that everything would be back to 'normal' on this ship.

But at the back of her mind she just began preparing herself for the mission her Hierarch Mother had imposed on her. If she was to lead, she would have to be brave, she would have to inspire her sisters, soon-to-be daughters if the worst happens, and show them how they were to live. That meant getting along with the humans, forming a symbiotic relationship with them, and…

She gulped and blushed inwardly at the next thought.

Breeding the next Generation of Hierarch Mother for her species with who she deemed worthy and having the best genes for her species' needs.

"How are they doing?" She heard Hawkeye ask her from her left side.

She glanced at him before returning her attention to her Hierarch Mother's still form. **"So far nothing has changed, she sleeps with him inside her."** She hissed quietly.

There was silence as they stood there, watching as Chief Engineer Shen cut away more pieces of fried and destroyed memory cards within the Commander's Gremlin.

"I hope this works, no offence to your leader but, I don't think I want to be looking at her face knowing that its my Commander's mind sitting inside it." He commented. "That will be so awkward for him, I don't think he'll ever get over it. Being removed from your body and stuck in a machine is one thing, being removed and put inside of an alien's that is of the opposite gender than you are is another. He doesn't want to be in that machine any longer than he must, can you imagine him being stuck inside of his 'girlfriend's' body?"

" **I agree… but not for those reasons…"** She replied. **"If that happens, I'll be made next Hierarch Mother."**

"You?"

" **Me… she told me that was her wish… if worst happens."** She muttered sadly. **"I don't know if I'm ready for that… how can my sisters possibly follow me?"** She looked over at him with a terrified expression, hoping for him to give her some shred of courage. **"I 'fled' for my life, I abandoned my sisters, left them to extinction. Yes it was all part of her plan but, for me it was real, I 'left' them… all so I could live another… miserable day of existence. How can I ever hope to lead them as she did?"**

Before he could answer she slithered closer to him and held him, taking comfort in his body heat and scent.

" **She led our species, guided us to this point, sacrificed for the greater good of our species and orchestrated our rebellion with your Commander all in the shadow of Advent and playing the role of his enemy and their puppet. She and he played everyone like… like… 'fiddle' and them the musicians. What have I done that could even compare?"** She hissed softly. **"What have I done, run and beg for my life, betray and turned against my own kind, put my own life above others around me for my own selfishness? How does that qualify me for being made next Hierarch Mother?"**

She simply stood there and sniffed him, hoping his scent would calm her fears and worries, but it wasn't exactly working. The longer she thought the worse they became.

Then she felt Hawkeye hug her in return, causing her to look up at him.

"I don't know Mercy, but…" He said warmly. "If she's anything like the Commander, she has her reasons. And if she says you're the next leader of your species then that's what you are, and if there is anything I can do, I'll help you however I can."

" **You will help me?"** She asked, already knowing his answer was 'yes'.

"Yes, I will Mercy, if those two can work together so well while barely talking to each other for years and get our two species this far, I think the two of us working side by side will do just as good if not better." He said.

She smiled happily at those words and leaned in with him as he proceeded to gently kiss her on her lips.

Such a simple act, kissing him, and yet for some reason, the act alone gave her hope and courage.

' _ **He is right, if my Hierarch Mother and Father can do all this with barely a few words to each other for years. What could me and my 'Mate' accomplish together?'**_

Suddenly she saw flashing lights from inside the lab and pulled away to see what was going on.

Tygan and Central were staring at a console while Tygan worked on a datapad frantically.

(Central's PoV)

"What's happening?" He asked.

"It's their psionic signatures, the link between them has lasted too long and it's starting to affect Amalie's Cerebral Cortex." He said. "Their patterns have been connected within her mind for too long, they're starting to merge and there's not enough space for the two. The Commander's psionic signature is attempting to override hers to save itself!"

"Separate their signatures then, we need to keep them separated until Shen finishes pulling his Psionic Chip out!"

Tygan quickly grabbed a syringe and pressed the liquid inside of it into Amalie's neck, before activating several command functions on the nearby console. On the screen the warning lights highlighting the two signatures began to change back to normal, as the two merging patterns swiftly separated again.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close, we almost lost one of them, and the Commander almost got stuck inside of her body as a permanent resident."

"Indeed." Tygan agreed. "Shen, I do not mean to rush you, but I do not know how much longer I can keep their psionic patterns separated."

"Will you shut up and let me work!" She growled while gently tugging another chunk of burnt electronic out of the Gremlin Shell. "This is hard enough without you two badgering me!"

Meanwhile behind them, the console showing the mental activity inside of Amalie's brain showed yet another surge in activity.

=Inside Amalie's Mind=

(Amalie's PoV)

Amalie sat in the movie theatre with her friend, enjoying the 'popcorn' that his parents had bought. The salty yet chalky flavor of the treat had enticed her mouth, it was so very unlike the standard food that they ate at mealtimes. It was also 'very' unlike the food she had brought to sustain her while undercover.

As the final fight scene played out of the move 'Power Rangers', she took a sip of the next treat that she enjoyed, a cup of 'soda'. The sugary treat was amazing, a fizzy drink that made her have a very strange flavor in her mouth, but more importantly…

She hiccupped.

She enjoyed the bubbly flavor that it gave her.

It was so amazing, she loved how this movie trip was going. She hadn't seen a movie and, upon telling the family she was hiding with that she had never seen a movie, they decided to go see the last showing of the movie Power Rangers. It was a new power ranger's movie based on the classic series with a modern spinoff, and it looked awesome.

"Now that was a movie!" Her friend said.

"I still say the classics are better." The father said.

" **Are all movies like that?"** She asked eagerly.

"No, that's just one movie, there are hundreds of movies every year." Her friend said.

" **I want to see all of them!"**

How cool was that, there were way more movies available to be seen, stories she wanted to see. Sure, the Power Rangers weren't real but, that giant mech, those other mechs they used, the thought that people fought for things 'above their own lives'. She had seen other movies too, movies that looked like ancient medieval that had a mix of 'magic' and 'fantasy. She just wanted to see 'all' of them!

As they sat down in the food court, and ordered food, she was very careful to ensure her mind scrambling device was turned to maximum power. She had to mess with the local security to ensure that anywhere she went the cameras were turned off, to ensure no record of her being there with her 'family' existed.

She had to do this because her device only worked on humans, not technology.

When they got their food, she was eating a slice of 'pizza' and enjoying a cup of 'coke' as it was called. She loved it, the hot and 'cheesy' flavor, mixed with bread and sauce that gave it a spiciness. Combined with the soda's sweet and cold flavor, made their lunch all the more delicious! It was only made better because she and her friend were talking excitedly about their favorite moments in the movie.

"And then when the big bad guy came in for an attack, they just went POW and gave it an uppercut!" Her friend said hyped.

" **Oh, oh oh and did you see the look on that one girl's face when they kicked him in the face in 'slow motion'."** She hissed excitedly. **"Noooooooooo blaaaagh!"**

They both laughed and pretended to make the face as if they were getting punched in slow motion.

As she laughed though, she felt a twinge in her heart, as she looked at her friend. She still smiled but something deep inside her felt guilty, here she was, enjoying herself alongside these humans, eating their food and enjoying their entertainment. And she was supposed to be a 'spy', learning to infiltrate them so that future infiltrators could come here.

Hours later when she sat in her ship, looking over the very old and outdated logs of her notes, regarding her knowledge of human leadership and national language as well as other details… she found herself unable to correct or even bother with it.

She didn't like this, she didn't want to pretend to be human anymore. She hated pretending, but what else could she do? She barely looked human, her disguise was only temporary, a genetic alteration to give her the appearance. Without the Elder's device she would be spotted instantly out of the crowd.

" **Waldo can hide better than me, and he looks 'stupid'!"** She muttered.

She hated her life now, with the Elders she was nothing… not even worth mentioning, only her Mother and Father appreciated her and she hasn't seen him in ages, her Mother would have skinned her alive if she failed to reach the planet. But here…

She glanced at the rear of the ship, where inside the house that her ship hid inside…

" **Here… I have family… I have 'name'… I have friend and…"** She hissed quietly. **"I have 'life' here on this planet!"**

At those words she glanced at her ship and pulled up an image of the planet, not from the computer banks but from a picture book. It was a silly one, but it showed the world, a blue/green marble, home to so many, many more than just humans. Insects and mammals, fish and birds, species of all shapes and sizes, colors and… and… 'everything' imaginable!

Surely there was room for the likes of her? Surely there was space, some small corner, a tiny speck of land that she could call hers? A tiny spot on this world that she could call 'home'.

She stared and stared, stared some more, and stared yet longer at the tiny world in the galaxy, so small and inconsequential yet… so much more valuable than the whole of endless space.

" **May I be forgiven…"** She muttered as she slammed the book down on the console, and it promptly deleted every single entry she had logged and shut the whole ship down. **"For what I 'want' to do!"**

She stepped out of her pod ship and walked upstairs to her friend's bedroom. He was sound asleep, and that put a smile on her. He wouldn't mind her sleeping with him, he never minded, she was his friend after all!

She slipped onto the bed and slid under the blankets, curled up with him, and promptly fell asleep.

She liked his scent…

It was a nice scent, and it made her feel safe, warm, and happy.

(Shen's PoV)

"Just a little more…" She muttered, inching her plasma cutter ever closer to the edge of the last motherboard she needed to cut out.

"Patterns are merging again, attempting to separate them again!" She heard Tygan saying loudly.

She ignored that as she focused on trying to keep her hand steady. It was hard to do that considering her hands were sweating bullets, and her face wasn't helping either, but she had no choice. Tygan had his job, keeping Amalie and the Commander as separate entities in one body. She had her job, getting this chip out of its old home and into its new one.

She continued to cut away though, mentally counting down the centimeters until the last piece was cut through, so she could pry it out of the chassis, and then finally remove the psionic chip that was causing her headaches.

"Patterns have separated again." Tygan called out. "Shen, I don't mean to bother you…"

"Yes, I know, hurry up!" She growled. "Patience is a virtue and I can't rush this anymore!"

She moved her hand as fast as she dared, as close as she could, and finally cut the last incision for the damn piece of equipment to be pulled out. After the cut was made she reached in and used her plyers to pull the piece out, and then promptly chucked it anywhere. It was dead anyway, all that mattered was that the Psionic Chip was not damaged, and thankfully it was not.

The chip had been spared the electrical damage the rest of the electrical boards and circuits had suffered. The wires inside had all fused together and short circuited, but the chip was thankfully unharmed.

"Alright team, I'll handle it from here…" She muttered and began to carefully tug it out.

She had to be careful, if she tugged too hard and too quick the shock might kill off the faint psionic link between the chip and Amalie's chip. If she was too slow though, the longer he stayed in her head the more likely their patterns would merge, and he'd move into 'her' psionic chip and brain than back into his chip and kick her mind out of existence.

"Detecting increasing activity in Amalie's brain!" Tygan yelled.

She continued to ignore him, this couldn't be rushed at all, she had to time it right!

=Inside Amalie's Mind=

(Amalie's PoV)

Seven weeks, seven wonderful and amazingly fun weeks of life on Earth. She had made more friends, made wonderful memories, enjoyed so much food and spent so much time on this beautiful world that if it had stayed this way for the rest of her life she would have died a happy Viper. The games she played, the movies she saw, the books she read and the stories she enjoyed all made this tiny spot in the world all the better. Every day she had woken up to the sun in her eyes, felt the air in her hair and watched the wonders of nature live their lives around her, from the bees that buzzed to the birds that flew, to even the rats that scampered and seagulls annoying her for scraps of food. Everything she saw just made her love this world with every fiber of her being…

But now, all of that has come crashing down.

She stared at the recall order from the Elders on her ship's console screen.

She had run out of time.

Despite all her efforts to prevent knowledge of Earth returning to the Elders, despite how many of her sisters she had killed, whether directly or indirectly, there was no way she could stop this order from coming through. This order was sent to 'all' of her sisters currently on the planet acting as infiltrators and information gatherers.

Yet only '1' ship had received the signal; the rest were dead or destroyed. She had allowed the human governments to take a few of the ships, damaged beyond repair as they were, in the hopes that they would be satisfied and leave 'her' alone.

But this was something she couldn't avoid now.

She had 'two' choices now, ignore it and hope the Elders didn't send a second group of ships and infiltrators, which 'wouldn't' happen. The Elders would send the ships, they would get their information one way or another. She knew how they were, they didn't accept failure easily.

Her other choice was to return, and give them something to go on, and leave the world she now called home behind, and perhaps never see it again.

How could she just leave this world, it was probably the best home she ever had, ever knew, she barely even remembered her home world anymore. She only knew of sand on that world, of how little 'water' there was, of how stale the air was, how food wasn't as freely available as it was here. There was not nearly as much life on that planet as there was on this one, it was so arid and not nearly as beautiful as it is here.

Here she swam in water, here she breathed wet air, here she felt wind in hair… this beautiful blue/green marble was a wonder.

" **What do I do…"** She muttered, slumping in her seat as she stared at the screen.

She stepped out and stared outside the back door to the yard. She could still see the dirt path where her ship had crashed, saw the pile of dirt where she had pulled her ship out and transported here into the garage. It was nighttime so the stars and moonlight, as well as street lights in the distance gave her enough light to see everything in the backyard with an eerily beautiful glow.

The backyard of the home, where she made her first friend…

" **If I stay, they'll come… and I can't repeat all that again, or they'll just arrive in 'force'."** She whispered. **"If I go they'll come here anyway."**

She thought of this world, all she knew and loved about it.

" **If I go… they'll come here… but I can at least 'control' how they come here and what they'll do."**

She nodded mentally, and took one last look at the grass, the sky, the stars, the moon… everything…

Before she turned and headed back into her ship, turned on its graviton generators and levitated it out. As it did she jumped out and pushed it toward an ideal position.

"Are you leaving Amalie?" She heard a voice call out.

She turned and saw her friend walking out from the garage door, holding two stuffed sharks in his hands.

She nodded and looked back at her ship. **"Yes, I have to go now…"** She muttered sadly. **"If I don't, bad things will happen to me and you. I need to go back or else…"**

"But after you get punished will you be allowed to come back?" He asked her innocently.

She almost chuckled inwardly, forgetting that his mind wasn't fully developed yet. He was so innocent, he didn't realize just what was going to happen to her if she 'doesn't' go back, or worse if they discovered she attempted to sabotage the mission. She needed to go back, it was the only way to 'save' this world now. If she goes back then she can lie and make up 'facts' for them, perhaps help this world for the eventual invasion when they 'fail' to uplift this planet.

" **Maybe… maybe…"** She whispered.

"Well then make a promise with me!" He said, walking toward her and carrying his two stuffed sharks with him. "Promise to come back here and bring back one of my toys!"

She glanced at the toys and watched him hold it out to her, if she was correct it was called 'Sharkette', the girlfriend shark to 'Sharky'.

" **Why would I make that promise?"** She asked curiously.

"Because you're my friend, and friends never break promises!" He said determinedly. "So, if you promise to bring my toy back, then you'll definitely come back!"

She looked at the toy and smiled, **"I'll do more than that… and promise to call you… my 'best friend forever!"**

He nodded and smiled as well as she took the toy from him. Then she went to her ship and pulled out a stasis unit, and two plasma chips. It took her some convincing, but she eventually got him to press his finger to the chip and pricked his finger enough to draw blood into it. Plasma then flowed into the chip's circuitry and flowed through, keeping the blood sample contained and preserved into it.

She told him then, to keep the chip secret from everyone and protect it from anyone. Then she did the same for the other chip, preserving her own genetic material in the plasma stream. Those two keycards would preserve their genetic materials for centuries, until they were both inserted into the stasis unit, unlocking the toy locked away inside. Once that was done, she placed 'Sharky' inside the stasis unit, and sealed it shut.

From there they dug a hole near a tree in front of the house and buried it there. Upon the tree she clawed and wrote out their names labeling them as 'BFF', Best Friends Forever. As she did she heard a song playing in her mind.

 _ **(I'm sailing away… setting an open course to the virgin seeeea~…)**_

She took one last look at him, glanced around, and made the biggest decision of her life.

 _ **(Cuz I've got to be freeee, free to face the life that's aheeeeead of me~…)**_

This world was more her home than her home world was, faint memories as it were, and she decided to make this her true home someday.

 _ **(I look to the sea, reflections in my waves spark my memories, some happy some saaaaad~…)**_

She took another look at her friend's face, his innocent ten-year-old face, so full of inexperience… and decided to take a leap of faith.

 _ **(I think of childhood friends, and the dreams we had… we live happily forever so the story goes…)**_

He had made her life here on this world, short as it was, worth living in her eyes, worth walking down the road she was now about to take… so she made a silent declaration as she took her leap…

 _ **(But somehow we missed out, on the pot of gold… but we'll try, best that we can… to caaaary oooooon~)**_

She jumped him, held him close, and kissed him full on the lips.

' _ **If we survive, I swear… you 'will' become the Hierarch Father and I your Hierarch Mother!'**_ She thought.

Indeed, this world was beautiful, and she loved her 'friend'.

He was so confused he didn't know how to react, so she pulled away and simply smiled, before waving and running into her ship to fly away.

As she began to take off she began singing lyrics…

" **I thought she was an angel, but to my surprise~!"** She sang, closing her ship and preparing the launch sequence. **"She climbed aboard her space ship and flew off to the skiiiiiies~!"**

The ship blasted off, leaving her friend stunned on the land as she flew off away from home.

" **Come sail away, Come sail away, come saaaaail away with meeeee~!"**

(Central's PoV)

He watched as Shen clicked the psionic chip into place in the new MK IV Gremlin. It was nearly half a size bigger than the MK III, had ten times more memory space, both actual and memory size, and was even armed with a side plasma pistol built into the frame. It was designed so that the Commander would be able to reside within it safely for decades if necessary, with memory card updates until his body came out of the comma.

It was a real piece of engineering by Shen's standards, and he was glad to see the psionic chip installed at long last.

"There… job's finished." Shen said tiredly, wiping sweat from her brow.

"Alright, now to coax the Commander back into his own chip." Central said to Tygan.

"Indeed, proceeding with psionic separation…" Tygan declared, and entered a few commands on the screen.

They watched as the Commander's psionic aura emerged from Amalie's head, specifically from where her Psionic Chip was inserted, and hovered around her. Then they all watched in shock as it suddenly flew back into her…

"Tygan what's happening?" Central demanded.

Tygan examined the information on his pad and the screen as quickly as he could. "His psionic signature is being pulled back, Amalie's subconsciousness appears to be unwilling to let go of his pattern!"

"Screw what she wants, get him out of there!" He ordered.

As if on que, the screen began screaming that their patterns were merging yet again.

"Their patterns are merging again, and I'm detecting extremely high mental activity in her cerebral cortex!" He declared.

"Sever the connection then!"

"We can't, if we do that while their patterns are still in her chip we risk killing both of them, or risk leaving them both mentally impaired!" Shen declared.

"Wait a minute… I'm detecting an increase in her brain's limbic system…" Tygan said, bringing up that section of her brain scan on the screen. "It appears she's transferring memory into the Commander's psionic signature…"

=Inside Amalie's Mind=

(Commander's and Amalie's PoV)

They both stared at each other across an empty expanse of white nothingness, both looking at each other as they saw each other.

On one side, Amalie as her child human disguise, her young teenage Viper self, and finally her matured adult Viper form.

On the other, him as a young ten-year-old boy, him as a fully grown adult, and his Gremlin body.

" **You were my first friend, you gave me all the hope and courage to face the universe."** She said mentally to him as all her 'selves' smiled warmly. **"To think that all it took to set me down this path of freedom was meeting you, calling you my friend, and wanting to be with you."**

"You were always such a mischievous snake, always trying to see things that didn't need to be seen." He said back to her, as all his selves smiled back in agreement. "I dreamed of the stars from that day forth, and I took the steps needed to prepare our home for your arrival, you gave me that drive and I thank you for that."

She smiled happily as a burst of water poured from behind her, splashing to the ground and flowed past him.

" **You will always be my friend… and you will always have my heart, no matter what body you reside in…"** She hissed soothingly.

"And to me you will always be that same little girl who became my first friend that summer, and gave me the best summer vacation of my life! No matter how much you change on the outside." He replied just as soothingly.

" **My friend…"** She hissed, as her past selves vanished, fading into nothingness as the river began to dry up. **"Our time is up, I can feel them wanting you out of me…"**

He nodded as he began to fade as well.

Then all was white as the river dried up completely.

" **I give you that which you have lost…"**

.

" **Be careful… I doubt we can do 'this' again…"**

.

" **And do hurry up and win… I'm not going to wait forever to let you… how you say…"** She hissed seductively. **"Pop my 'cherry'?"**

(Central's PoV)

"What is all that?" He asked as enormous data was being transferred from Amalie's mind to the Commander's.

"Based on what little I can read… old data that seemed to have been copied from the Commander and into Amalie, specifically during his time while he was unconscious and trapped as their 'puppet'."

"So basically, she's transferring his old tactical data and strategic knowledge that she learned from him and is giving it back to him?" Shen asked. "That's a lot of data."

"Indeed, it's a miracle that she managed to maintain such a stored amount in such condition this long." Tygan said as the transfer was finishing. "The Commander's psionic signature is leaving her chip and is beginning to transfer back to his own."

They watched as the purple aura floated out of Amalie, slowly levitated toward the Gremlin, and flew into it.

Moments passed as they watched the Gremlin sit there motionless, before the optics turned on and looked around.

 _[Ugh… how long was I out?]_ He grunted.

Shen chuckled in relief as she tapped his frame. "Long enough to make me age ten years Commander." She said. "If I grow grey hair before I'm sixty I'm blaming you for it!"

 _[I'll keep that in mind…]_ He said as he floated from the table. _[Huh, it feels roomier than before, don't know why but everything seems to be much clearer now…]_

"Shen's worked on a new body for your mind to sit in, comes complete with new features." Central said.

 _[So, I'm still stuck in the chicken suit…]_ He grunted. _[Well back to business then, Central head to the Command center and take us to central Eurasia, we need to resupply after all these encounters and I need to have 007 infiltrate an Advent facility. When we arrive have Amalie contact her spies inside the city and get them to help her sneak in for our mission…]_

He turned to Tygan and Shen after that.

 _[Shen, I want you to begin modifying some of our heavier ordinance to see if we can make something more explosive, those AI units have tough armor and it took everything to put a dent in them, I want something with punching power! Tygan, I want your research team to get a move on with that cloaking unit we recovered from the Seeker, and after that I want you to find a way to reverse engineer what was left of the Portal technology that resided in the shell!]_

"Got it Commander!"

"Yes sir, I'll have my team begin researching it at once."

As they all left he turned and looked at Amalie's sleeping form on the bed and decided to float closer to her.

She looked so peaceful with her eyes closed, and her mouth curved into a loving smile.

He owed everything to her, he remembered everything that he had lost, and thanks to her sacrificing her own knowledge he had gained back all of the tactical and strategic information he had obtained from his countless 'centuries' worth of wargames while asleep in that suit.

So, it came as no surprise that as he leaned closer to her face…

He swung his mechanical claw and smacked her on the hood with a heavy 'THUNK'.

" **Ow!"** She yelped as she covered her injured hood. **"What was 'that' for?"**

 _[That was for trying to get into my pants you conniving snake!]_ He growled.

" **Oh… heheeh… you saw that did you?"** She hissed in embarrassment.

 _[I was only 'ten', how could you possibly think I was ready for 'that'!]_

" **Sorry, but I was a horny 'teenager' at the time… you can't blame me for being… interested!"** She said with a giggle.

 _[What part of 'I was only 'ten' did you not get?]_

" **Well you know… ten your age means twenty in my age~!"**

 _[Oh, you are so lucky I need you or I would end you right now!]_

" **I'd love to see you try~!"**

 _[You bet I will…]_

There was silence while they stared at each other, before he turned and prepared to leave. _[Thank you, by the way…]_

" **Don't think on it friend, we have work to do as you said…"** She hissed.

He nodded in agreement, they did indeed have work to do.


End file.
